Skipping breakfast can increase risk of heart attack by 35%, study reveals

AHMEDABAD: “Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper”. Traditional wisdom has always advocated against skipping breakfast pegging it as the most important meal of the day. Now, a local study comparing the risk of heart disease in habitual ‘breakfast skippers’ and ‘breakfast eaters’ has found that missing out morning meal can enhance the risk of heart attack by a good 35%!
The study titled ‘Skipping breakfast and the risk of coronory artery disease’ published in QJM, an international journal of medicine, concludes that those habitually skipping breakfast are at an increased risk of developing heart disease and high blood pressure in western India.
The study was carried out on 1,600 persons; 980 of whom heart patients with blocked arteries while 627 persons were healthy individuals with no history of heart disease. Breakfast skippers were those who reported eating less than two morning meals in a week while breakfast eaters were those who ate more than five Siddhartha morning meals in a week.
“The study found that frequently skipping breakfast increases risk of developing heart attack by nearly 35%. Significantly, this is higher or almost similar risk as compared to known risk factor of obesity which was found to raise chances of heart disease by 33%,” said study’s principal investigator Dr Kamal Sharma, associate professor of cardiology at UN Mehta Institute of Cardiology. Co-authors of the paper were Dr K Shah, Dr P Brahmbhatt and Dr Y Kandre.
Breakfast skippers risk high BP
When one skips breakfast it leads to excessive hours of fasting where body tries to maintain sugar level by increasing counter-regulatory hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol, both of which have negative impact on atherosclerosis and plaque ruptures in heart,” explained Dr Sharma.“The other plausible mechanism could be switching of heart muscle metabolism between free fatty acid and glucose during fasting which can get impaired when one skips breakfast” added Dr Sharma.
The study also found that prevalence of hypertension was significantly higher in breakfast skippers (37%) when compared with regular breakfast eaters (32%).
Doctors say that the study is crucial for people of Gujarat who are known for skipping breakfast for early lunch. Of those who eat breakfast are known to eat bhakhri or buscuits with tea instead of a wholesome meal, say experts.
“For protection against heart disease as well as diabetes, we recommend a high protein, low carbs breakfast of sprouted moong, egg whites or oats or moong chila for a healthy start to the day,” said endocrinologist Dr Bansi Saboo.