Why do some people crave sweet breakfasts while others want savoury?

Breakfast is, in many ways, one of the most restrictive meals of the day. It has to be eaten before around 11am to avoid seeping into brunch territory. It needs to fit around getting ready for the day, exercising (maybe) and getting to work, and it often involves some sort of hot caffeinated beverage.

There are also certain foodstuffs which for no logical reason seem — in western culture at least — to be universally considered inappropriate for breakfast time: we’ll have smoked salmon but not a tuna steak, bread can be laden with butter, bacon and eggs but spaghetti carbonara is firmly in the lunch-and-dinner category, and while fruit is perfectly acceptable, a salad would seem odd.

But key among the different breakfasts we enjoy is the fact that they can be sweet or savoury. For those more keen on their desserts, being able to build a whole meal around sugar is the dream, whereas those who wake up craving a savoury delight can’t wrap their heads around starting the day with pancakes drenched in syrup. While there are people who will switch it up on a day-to-day basis, most of us have one preference in this sweet-versus-savoury quandary.

Part of this is cultural: in America, breakfasts tend to be (at least partly) sweet. This can be traced back to the proliferation of boxed cereals during the baby boom as a hassle-free breakfast which was strongly marketed at children. By the time the baby boomers were ready to become parents themselves, many had shifted towards a healthier alternative such as muesli or granola, but the sweet element remained present in their (and their offspring’s — many of whom were soon to be known as “millennials”) breakfast routine.

In many Asian countries, breakfast isn’t particularly differentiated from other meals, and bowls of savoury noodle broths are common in the morning, but even in countries like Korea or Japan, supermarkets have aisles full of boxes of sweet cereal options. Europe also pushes its children towards sweet options in the morning, but usually gravitate towards pastries or toast topped with different types of sweet preserves.

But possibly the most important reason for whether you go sweet or savoury in the morning may be what you had for dinner. We eat breakfast in the morning to kick-start our metabolism and avoid hunger pangs throughout the day. When you eat something heavy in refined carbs, your sugar levels will spike and then crash, meaning your body will demand something sweet to balance it out. If you had a steaming bowl of pasta just before bed, you’re much more likely to wake up craving a pain au chocolat.

The main reason for craving salty foods is a lack of sodium, which is usually caused by dehydration. If you tend to have wine or beer with your dinner as opposed to water, or if you tend to exercise and not rehydrate properly in the evenings, you may wake up wanting the saltiest food you can invisage, when in fact what you need is a big glass of water.

So is one type of breakfast beneficial over another? Yes and no. You want to make sure you’re getting protein in the morning, but this can come in the form of savoury (eggs, meat, pulses) or sweet (Greek yoghurt, oats, nuts) options.

You want to avoid a refined carb-heavy morning, even though toast or cereal might be the easiest option, and make sure you’re eating healthy fats and sugars, rather than processed ones. As long as you stick to the rules it doesn’t really matter whether the primary flavour is sweeter or savoury, so go forth and enjoy a healthy breakfast of your choice.