Damage to the heart Breakfast waiver endangers the health

Omitting breakfast increases the risk of heart disease

There are many myths about nutrition. One of them is that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Whether this is really the case, can not be answered flat rate, but apparently the food in the morning has an effect on our heart. Spanish scientists found that people who eat very little or no food in the morning have a significantly higher risk of cardiovascular disease. The study has now been published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Breakfast: Important or not?

Rich breakfast, yes or no? In this question, experts are anything but unanimous. Some are convinced that eating in the morning is necessary to give the body the energy it needs to get off to a good start to the day. A breakfast increases the concentration and efficiency, so the opinion of the proponents. Others claim that the positive effects of eating in the morning are greatly overestimated. Thus, breakfast is not the most important meal of the day.

Those who refrain from a healthy breakfast in the morning, according to a new study, an increased risk of cardiovascular disorder. (Image: juefraphoto / fotolia.com)

Deposits impede blood flow

A recent study by Madrid's Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III (CNIC) has shown that breakfast appears to play an important role in heart health. As the CNIC announces, the Spanish researchers recognized Dr. Irina Uzhova states that the risk of atherosclerosis (often referred to as arteriosclerosis) is doubled if breakfast is left out or eaten very poorly in the morning.

In atherosclerosis, fat and calcareous compounds (arteriosclerotic plaques) deposit in the walls of medium and large arteries, obstructing and blocking blood flow. Therefore, the disease is also called arteriosclerosis. It represents the most common underlying disease of the arterial vascular system and the main cause of coronary heart disease (CHD), which is the number one cause of death in this country.

Only a fifth regularly take a healthy breakfast

According to a CNIC communication, researchers compared the lifestyle and dietary habits of 4,000 middle-aged office workers and their tendency to atherosclerotic plaques. Of the study participants, only 20% regularly consumed a high-energy breakfast with more than 20% of the recommended calorie intake.

The majority (70%) consumed a low-energy breakfast (between 5% and 20% of the daily calorie intake). 3% ate nothing or very little in the morning (<5% der täglichen Kalorienzufuhr). Das CNIC-Forschungsteam fand zudem heraus, dass die letzte Gruppe tendenziell eher ungesunde Essgewohnheiten und eine höhere Prävalenz kardiovaskulärer Risikofaktoren hatte, so der Bericht.

Increased atherosclerosis values ​​independent of classical risk factors

It was found that persons whose breakfast contained less than 5% of the recommended daily calorie intake (i.e., 100 calories with a total daily caloric intake of 2,000) had on average twice as many arteriosclerotic lesions as those who had eaten a high-energy breakfast. This increased risk was independent of classic risk factors such as smoking, high cholesterol and physical inactivity.

Further investigations required

"The analysis suggests that skipping breakfast may be a real risk marker in the early stages of atherosclerotic disease, which requires further investigation of the underlying mechanism of action," said study author and expert in nutrigenomics, Drs. José María Ordovás.

This is also emphasized by the Scientific Coordinator of the study, Dr. med. Antonio Fernández-Ortiz: "We need earlier and more accurate risk markers for the early stages of atherosclerosis, which enable us to improve strategies to prevent heart attack, stroke and sudden cardiac death. The new results are crucial in achieving this goal. "(Nr)