To Your Health
April, 2019 (Vol. 13, Issue 04) |
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Skipping Breakfast Is Bad for Your Heart
By Editorial Staff
What's wrong with skipping breakfast? It could increase your risk of suffering a heart-related death. Enough said.
OK, let's take a deeper look at the potential connection, if you haven't already rushed off to ensure your pantry and fridge are well-stocked with breakfast essentials. According to recent research, people who never eat breakfast have a nearly 90 percent higher risk of cardiovascular mortality (death from heart disease or stroke) compared with people who eat breakfast every day.
Data on breakfast eating habits and heart-related deaths came from a sample of 6,500-plus adults ages 40-75 in a National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES, 1988-94). Eating habits relative to the first meal of the day were divided into four frequency categories for comparison: never ate breakfast, rarely ate breakfast, had breakfast on some days or had breakfast every day.
While the study, findings from which appeared in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, did not prove skipping breakfast causes cardiovascular issues or death from them, it's important to note the association. Also of note: Researchers accounted for other factors that might also cause heart-related death, including diet, lifestyle, body-mass index, age and disease status. They also point out that always skipping breakfast, as investigated in their study, is not the same as skipping breakfast as part of an intermittent fasting routine to restrict calorie intake.
