What you learned in school
Health and nutrition classes taught that breakfast was the most important meal of the day, essential for health, weight management, and cognitive function. Students learned that skipping breakfast would slow metabolism, cause weight gain, and impair academic performance. Textbooks emphasized that everyone needed to eat breakfast to start their day properly, regardless of individual preferences or hunger levels. This was presented as established nutritional science with no discussion of individual variation or alternative eating patterns.
What we know now
Health and nutrition classes taught that breakfast was essential for health, weight management, and cognitive function. Students learned that skipping breakfast would slow metabolism and lead to overeating later. This was presented as established scientific fact. The "most important meal" concept was largely created by cereal companies and breakfast food marketers. Research shows that meal timing is less important than total daily nutrition. Some people function better with breakfast, others don't. Intermittent fasting research suggests that breakfast isn't necessary for everyone. The importance of breakfast was overstated for commercial rather than scientific reasons.