What Breakfast Means For Metabolic Syndrome

To fast or to breakfast? An important health question, with a clear answer, that’s belied by such things as the title of this book: Why Doctors Skip Breakfast – by Dr. Gregory Charlop

The fact is: yes, intermittent fasting is good. No, skipping breakfast isn’t.

Now, of course, by some definitions, whenever we break a fast (which at some point we must, assuming we are to continue living), that meal is breakfast. But by “skipping breakfast” here what we mean is “not eating in the morning”.

So, why is it so important?

More reasons that breakfast really is the most important meal of the day

A recent systematic review with 118,385 participants found that people who regularly skip breakfast have a higher likelihood of developing metabolic syndrome and its key components—including elevated fasting glucose, abdominal adiposity, low HDL cholesterol, high triglycerides, and hypertension—all driven largely by insulin resistance. Which is bad.

In particular, the study associated skipping breakfast with:

• 26% higher risk of hyperglycemia (elevated fasting blood sugar levels, thus, prediabetes or type 2 diabetes, as there were no participants with type 1 diabetes included in the first place, and adult development of type 1 diabetes is incredibly rare)
• 21% increased risk of hypertension (high blood pressure)
• 17% increased risk of excess visceral fat, listed in the paper under the category of abdominal obesity, but we’d like to underline the fact that it’s the least healthy kind of fat to have
• 13% increased risk of hyperlipidemia (high triglycerides)

The paper for this study can be found here: Association of Skipping Breakfast with Metabolic Syndrome and Its Components: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies

So, those are the consequences, but what’s the mechanism?

The study was associative, so didn’t cover this, but we at 10almonds have covered this previously:

Breakfasting For Health? ← in which we cover the science of intermittent fasting in the context of the circadian rhythm.

Short version is: your body cares what time of day it is, and will do metabolically better or worse depending on what you do at different times of day. Eating the largest meal of the day in the morning is best of all, but failing that, having at least some meal in the morning is better than none. If you want to do intermittent fasting, it is better to have an early dinner (and thus begin your fast early in the evening) than a late breakfast (to end your fast late).

See also: What Size Breakfast Is Best, By Science?

Not only that, but there are also other health-related reasons to enjoy a good breakfast, too:

Meal Timings vs Osteoporosis Fracture Risk

Want to learn more?

Check out:

Fasting, eating earlier in the day or eating fewer meals—what works best for weight loss?

Enjoy!