Early mornings are usually chaotic in most households. After snoozing the alarm clock several times till you have to get up to leave for work and then travelling to office amidst the never-ending traffic, healthy breakfast is the last thing that pops up in one’s mind. Skipping breakfast has become quite common amid the hustle and bustle of life. However, doing so regularly has been proven to have detrimental effects on health, say experts.
Breakfast is often considered to be the most important meal of the day, and several studies have pointed out that skipping it can increase the risk of heart conditions.
Why is breakfast so important?
Deepa Agarwal, founder and consultant nutritionist, NutriClinic, Hyderabad, says, “Besides improving metabolism and providing energy, breakfast also enhances memory and concentration. It helps in lowering low-density lipoprotein [LDL] levels, reducing incidences of diabetes and cardiac issues early in life and losing weight. It also replenishes blood sugar needed for muscle and brain functioning.”
Jyoti Chabria, a food scientist and senior nutrition consultant in Hyderabad, says, breakfast helps kickstart the body. Skipping breakfast can slow down your metabolism, leading to weight gain. “When you gain weight, your cholesterol and triglyceride levels also go up, which causes blocks in the arteries. That’s how it affects the heart,” says Chabria, a national award-winning nutritionist.
Perils of skipping breakfast
A cohort study published in Journal of the American College of Cardiology in 2019 assessed 6,550 adults prospectively as part of the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) in the US and found that people who skipped breakfast had higher odds of developing atherosclerosis and dying from heart attack or stroke.
Dr Alaa Ujayli, interventional cardiologist, OSF HealthCare Cardiovascular Institute, Urbana, US, says, “The rationale is that people who have chronic eating habits will skip breakfast, get hungry and then binge or overeat later with high-calorie foods. This results in increased body weight and blood pressure, which are the risk factors for cardiovascular conditions.”
Amber Kingery, an Illinois-based cardiac nurse practitioner, says that skipping breakfast could lead to bad eating habits. She also points out that studies have shown that people who skip breakfast have less physical activity and energy, eat dinner at irregular times, snack more frequently as well as eat unhealthy red and processed meats.
Skipping meal and intermittent fasting
A study published recently in Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics states that skipping breakfast is associated with higher risk of death due to cardiovascular conditions. In an e-mail interaction with Happiest Health, the US-based lead author of the study, Dr Yangbo Sun, says that the study is about skipping meal, not intermittent fasting.
He clarifies, “Meal skipping and intermittent fasting are two different concepts. Intermittent-fasting is a time-restricted feeding method which involves limiting the intake of all foods and calorie-containing beverages to a set window [for example, eight hours] per day. However, meal skipping in our study was reported by the participants as skipping ‘meals’, which means they might have skipped a specific or multiple meals but had snacks instead at any other time. Thus, our study cannot be directly compared with those of intermittent fasting.”
Chabria says though intermittent fasting is good for detoxing the body once a while, she personally recommends having six small meals throughout the day for better health.
Dr Ujayli adds that people with comorbidities like diabetes or heart issues should organise their caloric intake. “For other healthy people, I believe you should listen to your body. If you get hungry at 9 am, it will be best to pre-empt this craving at 7 am and have your caloric intake before your brain pushes you to binge,” he says.
Heart-healthy breakfast
Dr Agarwal says eating a heart-healthy breakfast, packed full of nutrients, is a great way to give your heart a boost at the start of the day. She advises choosing whole and unprocessed foods from each of the five food groups (fruits, vegetables, grains, protein foods and dairy) which can include:
- Eggs, varieties of Greek yogurt (with less sugar) and legumes for protein
- Nuts, olive oil and avocado for healthy fat
- Whole grains, vegetables and fruits for fibres and carbs
Chabria says those who do not find time for cooking a heart-healthy breakfast can at least use other alternatives like nuts or some fruits to kickstart their metabolism. She recommends to never go on an empty stomach. She quotes American writer Adelle Davis, “Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper.”
Takeaways
- Skipping breakfast regularly has been associated with increased risk of heart conditions.
- Experts say skipping breakfast can lead to obesity, high cholesterol level, poor dietary consumption and increased blood pressure, which are risk factors for heart conditions.
- Having a heart-healthy breakfast is a great way to give your heart a boost at the start of the day.