Key Takeaways
- Earlier meals may support longevity. A study found older adults who ate breakfast later had a slightly higher mortality rate than those who ate earlier.
- Meal timing affects metabolism. Eating later in the day is linked to higher BMI and greater risk of chronic disease.
- Your body clock is also affected by meal timing. Aligning breakfast and dinner with your circadian rhythm can promote healthier aging.
The time you eat breakfast is often determined by when you wake up. After brushing your teeth and starting your morning routine, the natural next step is making yourself a delicious breakfast. And according to a new study published in Nature, that breakfast start time may matter more than you think. The study found that a later breakfast start time is associated with increased mortality. The 10-year survival rate was 86.7% for those in the late eating group, compared to 89.5% in the early breakfast group. Keep reading to find out more about these findings.
The Link Between Early Breakfast and Longevity
To understand the connection between breakfast timing and longevity, researchers analyzed data from a longitudinal study that followed nearly 3,000 older adults in the UK from 1983 to 2017. What they found is that as people aged, they were more likely to eat breakfast and dinner at later times. Chrononutrition, also known as the study of eating times, has found that later meal times are associated with poor metabolic health, which can lead to an increased risk of chronic disease. On average, participants started breakfast 31 minutes after waking up, at 8:22 a.m. Older age correlated with a later breakfast start time.
Eating times are also connected to our circadian rhythm: dietary intake acts as an environmental cue that informs our circadian clock. Because of the other changes that often go hand in hand with aging—like limited mobility and fewer social connections—circadian rhythms can shift further with mistimed meals. The researchers hypothesize that maintaining earlier breakfast start times could help restore circadian rhythms in older adults.
Although further research needs to be done, the timing of our meals may affect healthy aging more than we realize. Sticking to an early breakfast time may help us maintain our circadian rhythms as we age, and we might even notice an improvement in our overall health, mental health, and well-being.
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