Men who skip breakfast increase their risk of having a heart attack, researchers warned last night.
People who skip breakfast are thought to eat more food through snacks – and the research shows that they tend to drink more alcohol and smoke more tobacco than others.
Researchers report that not eating breakfast was linked to a 27% increased risk of heart disease.
The findings come from a study over 12 years of more than 26,000 male health professional, reported in the journal Circulation.
Researcher Dr Leah Cahill, of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, said: "Skipping breakfast may lead to one or more risk factors, including obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes, which may in turn lead to a heart attack over time."
She added: "Incorporating many types of healthy foods into your breakfast is an easy way to ensure your meal provides adequate energy and a healthy balance of nutrients, such as protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals.
"For example, adding nuts and chopped fruit to a bowl of whole grain cereal or steel-cut oatmeal in the morning is a great way to start the day."
Victoria Taylor, of the British Heart Foundation, said: "These researchers only looked at men aged over 45 so we would need to see further research to confirm that breakfast has the same impact on the heart health of other groups of people.
“What we do know is that a healthy and filling breakfast can make that mid-morning biscuit less tempting, as well as giving you another opportunity to widen the variety of foods in your diet."
Leah E. Cahill et al. Prospective Study of Breakfast Eating and Incident Coronary Heart Disease in a Cohort of Male US Health Professionals. Circulation 22 July 2013; DOI: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.113.001474
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