A killer combination
PEOPLE who skip breakfast and eat dinner near bedtime have worse outcomes after a heart attack. That’s the finding of research published last month in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology.
The study — “Skipping breakfast concomitant with late-night dinner eating is associated with worse outcomes following ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction” — found that people with the two eating habits had four to five times higher likelihood of death, another heart attack, or angina (chest pain) within 30 days after hospital discharge for heart attack.
UNHEALTHY BEHAVIOURS
This was the first study to evaluate these unhealthy behaviours in patients with acute coronary syndromes. It included 113 patients with a mean age of 60, and 73 per cent were men. Patients were asked about eating behaviours on admission to a coronary intensive care unit.
“The study enrolled patients with a particularly serious form of heart attack called ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction or STEMI. One in 10 patients with STEMI dies within a year, and nutrition is a relatively inexpensive and easy way to improve prognosis,” says study author Dr Marcos Minicucci of Sao Paolo State University, Brazil.
Dr Minicucci says skipping breakfast was defined as nothing before lunch, excluding beverages, such as coffee and water, at least three times per week.
Late-night dinner eating was defined as a meal within two hours before bedtime at least three times per week. In the study, skipping breakfast was observed in 58 per cent, latenight dinner eating in 51 per cent and both behaviours in 41 per cent.
Previous studies have found that people who miss breakfast and have a late dinner are more likely to have other unhealthy habits such as smoking and low levels of physical activity.
“Our research shows that the two eating behaviours are independently linked with poorer outcomes after a heart attack, but having a cluster of bad habits will only make things worse. People who work late may be particularly susceptible to having a late supper and then not being hungry in the morning.
“But, we also think that the inflammatory response, oxidative stress, and endothelial function could be involved in the association between unhealthy eating behaviours and cardiovascular outcomes,” says the researcher.
RECOMMENDATION
Dr Minicucci recommends a minimum twohour interval between dinner and bedtime.
He says: “It is said that the best way to live is to breakfast like a king. A good breakfast is usually composed of dairy products (fat-free or low fat milk, yogurt and cheese), a carbohydrate (whole wheat bread, bagels, cereals), and whole fruits. It should have 15 to 35 per cent of our total daily calorie intake.”