Healthy breakfast promotes greater heart health, says study

Are you in a habit of skipping your breakfast once in a while? Well, a new study suggests that you should change this habit as soon as possible. According to a new study, those skip breakfast more than often are more likely to suffer from atherosclerosis wherein the arteries get hardened and pose a threat to the heart.

As per the lead author of the study Dr. Valentín Fuster of the CNIC in Madrid and Mount Sinai Heart in New York City said by email that a greater percentage of energy consumed earlier in the day may favor cardiovascular health.

Researchers examined data from dietary questionnaires completed by 4,052 adults who didn’t have a history of heart problems.

Overall, just 3 percent of the participants reported skipping breakfast, while 69 percent typically consumed a light morning meal (accounting for 5 percent to 20 percent of total calories for the day) and 28 percent had a hearty breakfast (accounting for more than 20 percent of the day’s caloric intake).

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Compared to people who had a hearty breakfast, individuals who had a light breakfast were still 21 percent more likely to have damage in a major artery in the neck and 17 percent more likely to have damage to a major blood vessel in the abdominal area.

The study that was published in Journal of the American College of Cardiology holds true to the age-old concept that breakfast is indeed the most important meal of the day.