Skipping breakfast can raise heart risk

Skipping breakfast could put you at risk of a heart attack, research suggests.

Experts found that missing out on a morning meal was linked to hardening and narrowing of the arteries – a major cause of heart disease.

The findings show people who regularly skipped breakfast were more than twice as likely to show signs of artery damage. And those who only eat a light breakfast are a quarter more likely to have problems.

The US researchers believe this is because people who do not eat breakfast tend to eat more later in the day.

And because they get hungry, that food is more likely to be made up of unhealthy snacks eaten on the go.

The team, from new York’s Mount Sinai Hospital and Tufts University in Massachusetts, found the healthiest people consumed more than 20 per cent of their dietary intake – 400 calories for a woman and 500 for a man – at breakfast. Scientists also think that food eaten later in the day has a greater impact on hormone balance, which in turn affects the heart. Lead author Dr Valentin Fuster said: ‘people who regularly skip breakfast likely have an overall unhealthy lifestyle. This study provides evidence that this is one bad habit people can proactively change to reduce their risk for heart disease.’

The researchers based their findings, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, on 4,000 people in Spain who were free from cardiovascular or kidney disease.

Of the 4,052 participants, 2.9 per cent skipped breakfast, relying only on coffee and juice. Some 69.4 per cent had a light breakfast of less than 20 per cent of their daily calorie intake, with only 27.7 per cent eating a hearty breakfast.

The researchers found atherosclerosis – the medical term for stiff and narrow arteries – was 2.57 times more likely in those who had no breakfast, and 1.27 per cent more likely in those who had a small breakfast.

Those who skipped breakfast also had the greatest waist circumference, body mass index, blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar – all of which are also risk factors of cardiovascular disease.