Scientists find perfect time for breakfast to cut risk of heart attack

EATING breakfast and supper an hour later can increase the risk of a heart attack or stroke, according to research.

The French study showed people who eat for the first time at 9am are 6 per cent more likely to develop cardiovascular disease than someone who has breakfast at 8am.

And eating after 9pm was associated with a 28 per cent risk of cerebrovascular disease compared with eating before 8pm, particularly in women.

However, the findings also show that a longer duration of “night-time fasting” – the time between the last meal of the day and the first meal the next day – saw a reduced risk of a stroke.

Cardiovascular diseases, such as heart attacks and strokes, are the leading cause of death globally, according to the global burden of disease study, with 18.6 million annual deaths in 2019, of which around 7.9 million were attributable to diet.

The global burden of disease study is compiled by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, which provides impartial, evidence-based data on global health trends.

Scientists say the modern Western lifestyle has led to specific bad eating habits such as eating dinner late or skipping breakfast. They explained that the daily cycle of food intake, alternating with periods of fasting, synchronises the peripheral clocks, or circadian rhythms, of the body’s various organs, influencing functions such as blood pressure regulation.

Chrononutrition, which is the relationship between food, metabolism and meal timing, and your body clock, is now emerging as an important scientific field.

The research team used data from more than 103,000 French people – most (79 per cent) of whom were women, with an average age of 42 – to study the associations between food intake patterns and cardiovascular disease.

Dr Srour, of the French national institute for agricultural research, added: “These findings, which need to be replicated in other cohorts and through additional scientific studies with different designs, highlight a potential role for meal timing in preventing cardiovascular disease.

“They suggest that adopting the habit of eating earlier first and last meals with a longer period of night-time fasting could help to prevent the risk of cardiovascular disease.”

The findings were published in the journal Nature Communications.

‘The findings highlight a potential role for meal timing in preventing disease’ ‘Eating first and last meals earlier and a longer period of night-time fasting could help’