You may already have read how people who eat breakfast tend to be slimmer than those who don't - which itself is a good enough reason to chow down in the morning. But according to Australian health experts, breakfast eaters have a lower risk of heart problems than non-breakfast eaters too.
Flickr, Adam Freidin
The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, suggests skipping breakfast in the long term (that is, during childhood as well as when you're an adult) could raise your cholesterol level as well as your insulin level.
After following more than 2,000 people since 1985, the researchers also discovered those who skipped breakfast as a child and an adult have larger waist measurements - 5cm on average - than the breakfast eaters, which confirms earlier studies that claim breakfast eaters have fewer weight problems.
The study categorised children as non-breakfast eaters if they didn't eat anything before school, and adult non-breakfast eaters as those who didn't eat between 6 and 9am (so a muesli bar at the office doesn't count). Out of the 2,000-odd volunteers the majority - 1,400 - didn't skip breakfast as a child and continued to eat breakfast as an adult. Only 86 were serial breakfast skippers (that is, they never ate breakfast, not now and not when they were kids either).
The study didn't look at what foods the volunteers were eating for breakfast, however, just whether or not they ate first thing in the morning.
What's your favourite meal to start the day? Do you feel worse for wear if you skip it?
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