SHARES
“My husband seldom has breakfast before going to work. He just didn’t have the appetite for it. I have always thought that eating less meal can help with his weight control. But, my friends are telling me that skipping breakfast is bad for the heart!” Jen, 44, worrying about her husband’s health.
As the wise saying goes “eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper”. Breakfast is often regarded as the most important meal of the day. Eating a well-balanced meal in the morning can provide us with good energy to kick start the day. Many studies show how our first meal of the day can benefit us both physically and mentally. However, what happens if we skip breakfast?
Photo by Ashley Bee from Flickr
Skipping Breakfast – Higher Risk for Heart Disease
Studies show that skipping or eating too little breakfast is linked to a much higher risk (87% risk increase) for heart disease! However, it is not entire clear whether this causes heart attack or people with risk of heart attack tend not to take breakfast. Likewise, similar studies are also pointing towards the link between breakfast skipping and high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, and stroke.
Possible Explanation for Heart Disease Risk
Although the exact mechanism remains unknown, the authors are noticing that skipping breakfast is often related to poorer diet, smoking, overweight or obesity, physically inactivity, and frequent alcohol consumption. These factors may all contribute to heart disease. Yet, after adjusting for these co-factors, the results are still showing an association between breakfast skipping and heart disease. Even so, this may not prove a direct cause yet.
There can be other indirect cause for heart disease related to breakfast skipping.
Indirect Causes of Heart Disease Risk
Stress Due to Missed Meals
In the first place, our body have heightened sense of taste and appetite in the morning. Also, we have greater energy and our mood is generally better after a good night’s sleep. These altogether influences our food choice of the day. Therefore, we are more likely to go for healthier food choices during breakfast.
On the other hand, by skipping breakfast, hunger, stress, fatigue and bad mood all pump up our stress hormones and make us crave for fatty and sugary food that are high in calories. In addition, stress hormones also decrease our satiety, making us more likely to overeat and gain body fat.
Body Clock Unbalanced
Besides, skipping breakfast can be a warning sign that our body clock has gone haywire. Our sleep-wake cycle, work-rest routine, as well as our meal time and appetite are all closely related to one another. If our body hormones are going out of balance, we will have irregular eating and sleeping time. For instance, lacking appetite and feeling sleepy during breakfast, and feeling hungry with disturbed sleep at night.
Hence, it is not surprising that various studies are also finding that daily breakfast person is getting adequate vitamins and minerals, and lower bad cholesterol level as compared to those who skip breakfast.
Photo by Perfectionist Reviews from Flickr
Conclusion
Eating a well-balanced breakfast not only supplies us with good energy for the day, but also improve our mood and focus. In contrast, skipping breakfast puts you at higher risk for heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity and stroke. In short, if you are finding yourself skipping your first meal of the day, it is time to heed the alarm and take care of your body’s need to sleep, work, rest and eat.
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References:
1. Bazian. Regularly skipping breakfast linked to increased risk of heart disease and stroke [NHS]. Crown. 2020. (Available from: https://www.nhs.uk/news/food-and-diet/regularly-skipping-breakfast-linked-increased-risk-heart-disease-and-stroke/; last updated on 2019 April 23; last accessed on 2020 May 18)
2. Does skipping breakfast raise your risk of heart disease [Internet]? British Heart Foundation. 2020. (Available from: https://www.bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/heart-matters-magazine/news/behind-the-headlines/skipping-breakfast; last updated on 2017 Jan 31; last accessed on 2020 Mar 18)
by Chang Xian
View all articles by Chang Xian.
