Breakfast skippers take note—missing this morning meal may harm your arteries and fatten up your waistline. In a study that monitored the breakfast eating habits of over 4,000 subjects free of heart disease or diabetes, researchers found a clear association between missing or skimping on breakfast and early markers for heart disease and diabetes. Based on the study subjects’ reports of their “usual breakfast habits,” researchers classified them into one of three groups: breakfast skippers (those consuming less than five percent of their daily calories at breakfast); light breakfast eaters (five to 20 percent of daily calories); and breakfast eaters (more than 20 percent of daily calories).
Both the skippers and the light breakfast eaters were more likely to have signs of cardiometabolic risk factors with the skippers faring the worst. Relative to the regular breakfast eaters, these two groups had bigger waistlines, more body fat, as well as higher blood pressure, blood lipids, and blood glucose.
This type of study cannot prove cause and effect but echoes what many past studies have noted—regular breakfast eaters are more likely to be healthier and leaner.
Here are more reasons to eat your breakfast!
Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 2017; 70 (15): 1833 DOI: 10.1016/j.jacc.2017.08.027
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Thank you so much for re-igniting my motivation to eat healthy again. Your talk I heard years ago was the spark and this time was the fuel to get me seeking the information I need to be healthy. Giving me the benefit of your wealth of knowledge about the workings of the human body is an immense gift and I thank you. – Marguerite C. (September 2017)
