Those people who skip their breakfast are more likely to develop atherosclerosis, a condition which leads to hardening of arteries, than those who usually start their day with a good meal, according to a study.
Even though many experts have accounted for diet and other major risk factors for heart disease, people still delay or skip the breakfast. People who skipped their breakfast are more likely to develop atherosclerosis compared to others who start their day with a hearty meal, explained researchers.
"A greater percentage of energy consumed earlier in the day may favour cardiovascular health," said lead author of the study, Valentin Fuster, director of Zena and Michael A. Weiner Cardiovascular Institute.
People who usually skipped breakfast were especially more likely to be male, smokers and dieters who take the bulk of calories during lunchtime. This group of people usually spend less than 5 minutes on their breakfast and consume more of coffee, juices, and the sometime handful of snacks.
People who skip their morning meal are 21% more prone to have damage in an artery in the neck and 17% much more likely to have damage to a major blood vessel in the abdominal parts of the body, revealed the study. When compared to those who had a hearty meal or breakfast each day, those they often skipped have more negative impact on their health.
Besides, having the higher chance of getting atherosclerosis, people who usually skipped their morning meal suffer from other risk factors which include more circumference, body mass index, blood pressure, cholesterol and more blood sugar levels, noted the paper published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Those individuals who had no habit of taking breakfast were likely to an absolute unhealthy lifestyle, associated with poor eating habits, frequent alcohol consumption, smoking and poor overall diet. Thus these groups of people are more likely to gain more weight or obese explained study.
The researchers found that some people who have been skipping their breakfast are either obese or overweight, who are trying to lose their weight by avoiding the breakfast. But this could lead to atherosclerosis, cautioned researchers.
"Major overweight people who might be skipping breakfast or other meals in the hope of losing weight should keep in mind that studies have repeatedly shown that contrary to that commonly held belief, such habits can be associated with weight gain and might lead to significant metabolic abnormalities including the increased risk of metabolic, syndrome and diabetes," said Prakash Deedwania, Professor of Medicine at the University of California–San Francisco, in an email to Reuters.
"Having a healthy first meal just sets the tone right for the rest of the day," said Marie-Pierre St-Onge, nutrition researcher at Columbia University Medical Centre.
