Celebrities such as Joanna Lumley and Jennifer Aniston have credited their slim figures to skipping breakfast, ‘the most important meal of the day’.
But a new study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology warns the diet hardens your arteries by sending your glucose levels soaring.
When researchers analyzed the health of more than 4,000 people and whether they ate breakfast or not, they discovered skipping the meal triggered the same emergency response in the body as starvation.
It means the diet does little to control your waistline, and merely sends your risk of heart disease and obesity skyrocketing.
Actresses Joanna Lumley (left) and Jennifer Aniston (right) have previously revealed that they skip breakfast in order to maintain a healthy diet. But experts warn skipping meals can actually increase someone’s risk of getting obesity and heart disease
Eating a healthy breakfast has been shown to promote greater heart health, including healthier weight and cholesterol, and experts say it is imperative to someone’s diet.
Experts from Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, Boston, analyzed males and females health and compared it to if they ate breakfast.
These volunteers were free from cardiovascular or chronic kidney disease.
A computerized questionnaire was used to estimate the usual diet of the participants, and breakfast patterns were based on the percentage of total daily energy intake consumed at breakfast.
Three groups were divided into those who skipped breakfast, those who had a low-energy breakfast and those who were breakfast consumers.
Of the 4,052 participants, 2.9 percent skipped breakfast, 69.4 percent were low-energy breakfast consumers and 27.7 percent were breakfast consumers.
Atherosclerosis was found more frequency among participants who skipped breakfast and was also higher in participants who consumed low-energy breakfasts.
Participants who skipped breakfast were also more likely to have an overall unhealthy lifestyle, including poor overall diet, frequent alcohol consumption and smoking.
This included an increase in risk of hypertensive and obesity.
In the case of obesity, the study authors said the observed results may be explained by obese patients skipping breakfast to lose weight.
‘Aside from the direct association with cardiovascular risk factors, skipping breakfast might serve as a marker for a general unhealthy diet or lifestyle which in turn is associated with the development and progression of atherosclerosis,’ said Dr Jose L. Peñalvo, assistant professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University and the senior author of the study.
‘Our findings are important for health professionals and might be used as a simple message for lifestyle-based interventions and public health strategies, as well as informing dietary recommendations and guidelines.’
Experts recommend for people to focus on the food they are eating instead of skipping meals in order to provide the body with the best nutrition.
Dr Prakash Deedwania, professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and author of the accompanying editorial comment, said: ‘Between 20 and 30 percent of adults skip breakfast and these trends mirror the increasing prevalence of obesity and associated cardiometabolic abnormalities.
‘Adverse effects of skipping breakfast can be seen early in childhood in the form of childhood obesity and although breakfast skippers are generally attempting to lose weight, they often end up eating more and unhealthy foods later in the day.
‘That breakfast is the most important meal of the day has been proven right in light of this evidence.’