Breakfast Habits and Metabolism Across Different Demographics

Growing up, many of us were told that breakfast is the most important meal of our day. Today, we are often surrounded by mixed narratives on the possible benefits of consistently eating breakfast daily versus skipping breakfast habitually. Eating breakfast consistently has been thought to boost our metabolism patterns throughout the day, positively affect the body’s immediate response to subsequent meals in the day, and be an important factor in regulating circadian rhythms. Circadian rhythms are our body's internal processes on a 24-hour cycle that direct patterns of sleep and waking.

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Routine and Dietary Habits Image Source: Iryna Veklich

A 2021 study done in the Korean population aimed to investigate the actual association between breakfast habits and negative effects on metabolism and more specifically how this varies by demographic group--sex, age, and work status. The researchers conducted a cross-sectional, which is an observational study based on the responses of over 21,000 individuals over the course of 5 years. They used various measures to quantify metabolic results of the participants, including obesity around one’s waist or abdomen, blood pressure, and other blood values such as triglycerides and HDL cholesterol. Defining irregular breakfast habits as eating breakfast less than five times per week, the study found correlations between some unhealthy lifestyle practices, including heavy smoking and heavy drinking, with irregular breakfast eating. In one group, younger working males, the researchers found a higher percentage of regular breakfast eaters with normal metabolic results than the people in the irregular group. In this group, irregular breakfast habits were found to be associated with a higher risk of having abnormal metabolism. Although this was not the case among middle-aged female working individuals, after adjusting for other confounding factors, eating breakfast was not found to be associated with an increased risk of abnormal metabolism.  Though irregular breakfast habits were found to be significant in one population, this study does have limitations in that a self-administered questionnaire over a several-year time period may not always be reliable. Working status also may have much more complex effects than were accounted for in this study, and results from this specific Korean population may not always be directly translatable to the US general population. However, the researchers’ findings are a stepping stone to placing emphasis on incorporating a consistent and balanced breakfast routine into everyday work life.