Skipping Breakfast May Increase Heart Attack Risk, Study Finds

Skipping breakfast could lead to a significantly higher chance of heart disease, according to a new study this week in an American Heart Association journal.

Researchers looked at 26,902 American men between the ages of 45 and 82 and tracked the more than 1,500 coronary heart disease cases that arose among them. Men who skipped breakfast had a 27 percent higher risk of heart disease than those who did not, the study found.

But the study also noted that men who ate late at night had a much higher rate of heart disease than those who did not.

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And the research was limited. Almost all of those who were tracked were health professionals of white, European descent. Those who skipped breakfast were more likely to be smokers, be less physically active, and drink more alcohol.

Still, “our study is the first to assess eating habits in relation to CHD (coronary heart disease), and the associations we report are significant but modest, requiring replication,” the study says.

The study notes that while Dietary Guidelines for America recommend breakfast for children, no such recommendations are in place for adults.

Folks on social networking sites were already drawing their own conclusions.

“Skipping breakfast could kill men,” tweeted Lokendra Singh, who uses the Twitter handle @Lokendratweets. “Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day.”

“I knew breakfast was good!” tweeted @jamesbane.

But, possibly noting the flaws in the study, @Lifesprk tweeted, “Skipping breakfast and heart disease: not so simple.”

“It’s important to note that simply grabbing breakfast – any breakfast at all, even if it’s something unhealthy like a doughnut – is not enough to protect your heart health,” stated an article on Today.com. "And eating breakfast is just one of many healthy habits associated with a stronger ticker.”

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