CKEditor inserts empty paragraph at start and bottom

Each time I load a text fra my mySql database into the CKEditor, an extra paragraph (<p> </p>) is added at the start and bottom of my text. So each time I save a change to my database, the text grow with an extra line (paragraph) in start and bottom. How can I get rid of that?

I have searched the API documentation, but could not find a setting there.

Kind regards
Michael