Skipping breakfast is bad medicine for smokers

In researching an article about the dangers of skipping breakfast we wrote recently for a different publication, we came across a 2009 study that examined the breakfast eating habits of current smokers. Though the research is not hot off the presses, we thought the results were worth sharing with you knowing that many of you are active smokers. The most startling finding in the study - current smokers who regularly omitted a morning meal were 4.7 times more likely to develop diabetes than current smokers who ate breakfast every day. ¹

The Japan-based research team also found that 63% of current smokers in their study regularly skipped breakfast, evidently echoing previous studies that have shown a strong correlation between smokers and breakfast skipping tendencies.

In other studies, skipping breakfast has been shown to increase fasting lipids (fats in the blood stream), elevate blood sugar, and impair insulin control. All of these impacts are considered contributing factors in the development of diabetes. The researchers in this study speculated that smoking seems to accelerate these effects of breakfast skipping leading to a pronounced increase in the odds of developing diabetes.

How strong is the influence of breakfast skipping combined with smoking in the risk of developing diabetes? Well, the results of this study indicated that smokers who regularly ate breakfast had the same, low odds of developing diabetes as never smokers who regularly ate breakfast. But when compared with smokers who never or rarely eat breakfast, the odds ratio of developing diabetes were 4.7 times higher than both groups of regular breakfast consumers.

In addition to diabetes risk, there are a host of other studies that have been published over the past few years that highlight other significant health risks associated with eschewing a morning meal including increased risk for cardiovascular disease and obesity. Further, a number of previously reported papers have shown strong correlations between breakfast skipping and poor mental focus, poor sleep quality and persistent fatigue.

In fact, in the Japanese smoker/breakfast skipping study, the paper’s authors also noted that smokers who skipped breakfast were more than 2 times likely than regular breakfast eaters (both smokers and non-smokers) to report poor sleep quality.

If you are interested in adding a morning meal to your daily routine, a number of breakfast-oriented studies have determined the healthiest choice is ready-to-eat cereal made from whole grains combined with low-fat milk. For those wishing to spice it up a bit, add a piece of fruit into the mix.

Cereals made with whole grains typically have a higher fiber content, lower glycemic index value (glycemic index is a measure applied by dieticians to assess the blood sugar raising effects of various foods), and less harmful fats/oils. Before you start to groan imagining eating tasteless, coarse cereals, check out this list of healthy and unhealthy cereal choices developed by Dr. Diane Mirkin.

If you can’t see your way chomping on bran flakes to start your day, at least try to avoid breakfast foods that have been shown to possess a high glycemic index. High glycemic index foods are strongly correlated with obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and other cardiovascular risk factors. Some of the biggest breakfast offenders on this list include doughnuts, waffles, bagels, and toast made from white bread.

However, this study points out smokers would be well served to add a regular meal to begin the day (regardless of breakfast food choice) so as to avoid the risk of adding insult to injury by compounding the respiratory effects of smoking by increasing the odds of contracting diabetes.

¹ Nishiyama M, et al. The Combined Unhealthy Behaviors of Breakfast Skipping and Smoking Are Associated with the Prevalence of Diabetes Mellitus. Tokohu J. Exp. Med. 2009;218:259-264.



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