A new University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) study has concluded that higher fat at breakfast may be healthier than you think.

The adage "Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper" can be the best advice to follow to prevent metabolic syndrome, say the researchers.

Metabolic syndrome is characterized by abdominal obesity, high triglycerides, insulin resistance and other cardiovascular disease-risk factors.

Boffins examined the influence exerted by the type of foods and specific timing of intake on the development of metabolic syndrome characteristics in mice.

It was further revealed by the UAB research that mice fed a meal higher in fat after waking had normal metabolic profiles. In contrast, mice that ate a more carbohydrate-rich diet in the morning and consumed a high-fat meal at the end of the day saw increased weight gain, adiposity, glucose intolerance and other markers of the metabolic syndrome.

The study's lead author Molly Bray, Ph. D., professor of epidemiology in the UAB School of Public Health said, "Studies have looked at the type and quantity of food intake, but nobody has undertaken the question of whether the timing of what you eat and when you eat it influences body weight, even though we know sleep and altered circadian rhythms influence body weight."

Study senior author Martin Young, Ph. D., associate professor of medicine in the UAB Division of Cardiovascular Disease, said, "The first meal you have appears to program your metabolism for the rest of the day. This study suggests that if you ate a carbohydrate-rich breakfast it would promote carbohydrate utilization throughout the rest of the day, whereas, if you have a fat-rich breakfast, you have metabolic plasticity to transfer your energy utilization between carbohydrate and fat." (With Inputs from Agencies)