We know it’s the most important meal of the day, but new research has found eating breakfast can help you control food cravings.

A small study from the US’s University of Missouri-Columbia found that teens in particular who skipped breakfast were more likely to gain weight throughout the day.

“Our research showed that people experience a dramatic decline in cravings for sweet foods when they eat breakfast,” assistant professor of nutrition and exercise physiology, Heather Leidy said.

They also found high protein breakfasts reduced cravings for high-fat foods – but when breakfast is skipped, cravings continue to rise throughout the day.

Researchers examined how different breakfasts affected people’s dopamine levels (a chemical involved in moderating impulses and food craving rewards in the brain).

They found for those who skipped breakfast, their dopamine levels had a similar response to people who are overweight or obese, meaning they had to eat more food before their dopamine levels elicited feelings of reward.