There is a reason why our moms force us to have our breakfast before leaving the house: According to a recent study, skipping breakfast increases the risk of getting cardiovascular diseases.
Published on the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC), the study observed more than 6,500 subjects between the ages 40 and 75 between the years 1988 and 1994. Throughout the observation, scientists did not pay attention to the content of the breakfast that the subjects ate. Participants were asked "How often do you eat breakfast?" and possible answers included, "every day," "some days," "rarely" and "never." Among the participants, 5.1 percent never ate breakfast, 10.9 percent rarely ate breakfast, 25 percent ate breakfast some days and 59 percent ate breakfast every day.
Participants who never consumed breakfast had an 87 percent higher risk of cardiovascular disease-specific mortality than those who consumed breakfast every day. Researchers said skipping breakfast was associated with changes in appetite and decreased satiety, elevated blood pressure and harmful changes in lipid levels. It was also a behavioral marker for unhealthy lifestyle habits. The results also showed that people who skip breakfast intentionally over the years are more prone to suffer from obesity, high cholesterol, high blood pressure as well as Type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndromes which eventually lead to cardiovascular diseases.
