ATLANTA — Another reason to eat breakfast: Skipping it may increase your chances of a heart attack.
A study of older men found those who regularly skipped breakfast had a 27 percent higher risk of a heart attack than those who ate a morning meal. There’s no reason why the results wouldn’t apply to other people, too, the Harvard researchers said.
“It’s a really simple message,” said Eric Rimm, one of the study authors at the Harvard School of Public Health. “Breakfast is an important meal.”
Experts aren’t certain why, but here’s what they think: People who don’t eat breakfast are more likely to be hungrier later in the day and eat larger meals. Those meals mean the body must process a larger amount of calories in a shorter amount of time. That can spike sugar levels in the blood and perhaps lead to clogged arteries.
But is a stack of syrupy pancakes, greasy eggs and lots of bacon really better than eating nothing?
“We don’t know whether it’s the timing or content of breakfast that’s important. It’s probably both,” said Andrew Odegaard, a University of Minnesota researcher.
The new research was released Monday by the journal Circulation.
