To enjoy good health, it is not only important what we eat, but also what time we eat and how we distribute the energy we consume throughout the day. Now, the results of a study by the Hospital del Mar Research Institute have revealed the extent to which breakfast is important and how it influences the main cardiovascular risk factors, since they indicate that eating a quality breakfast that provides adequate amount of energy to face the day, specifically a quarter of the total daily intake, reduces the chances of developing cardiovascular disease.
The researchers followed 383 people participating in the PREDIMED-Plus study for three years, which analyzes the effects of the Mediterranean diet on health, and found that those who ingested between 20% and 30% of the amount of energy from everything the day in the morning they have between 2% and 3.5% less body mass index, less abdominal obesity (between 2% and 4% less waist circumference), less triglycerides (between 9% and 18% less) and between 4% and 8.5% more HDL cholesterol, the good one.
Furthermore, a quality breakfast that includes a balanced intake of proteins, fats of high biological value, fiber, calcium and iron, but without excess added sugars and saturated fats, is associated with a 1.5% smaller abdominal circumference, 4% less triglycerides, and more good cholesterol, specifically 3%. The findings have been published in the Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging.
Eating a good breakfast helps fight obesity
The participants were people between 55 and 75 years old who were overweight or obese and to observe their evolution, various cardiovascular risk factors were taken into account. Specifically, weight, waist circumference, which is an indicator of abdominal obesity, the evolution of lipid risk, with control of cholesterol and triglyceride levels, blood pressure and markers of diabetes.
The results showed that people who ate 20 to 30% of their total energy for the day in the morning had lower levels of some of these risk factors. In this way, the evolution of their body weight was much better than in those participants who ate more or less energy for breakfast, presenting at the end of the follow-up a body mass index between 2% and 3.5% lower and a waist circumference between 2% and 4% smaller. A correct energy intake at breakfast was also associated with a very significant decrease in triglycerides, between 9% and 18% less, and an improvement in the so-called good cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, between 4% and 8.5% more.
In relation to the quality of breakfast, the figures were also positive. Participants with a quality breakfast had less abdominal obesity at the end of follow-up, 1.5% less waist circumference, 4% less triglycerides, and 3% more good cholesterol.
“Promoting healthy breakfast habits can contribute to healthy aging by reducing the risk of metabolic syndrome and associated chronic diseases”
In the opinion of Álvaro Hernáez, researcher at the Hospital del Mar Research Institute, researcher at the CIBER of Cardiovascular Diseases (CIBERCV) and professor at the Blanquerna Faculty of Health Sciences of the Ramon Llull University, this indicates that “breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but what and how it is made matters, eating controlled quantities, neither too much, nor too little, and its nutritional composition. Our data indicate that quality is associated with a better evolution of cardiovascular risk factors. It is as important to have breakfast as it is to have quality breakfast. The quality of what we eat is very important,” he stated in a note published by the Hospital del Mar.
In this sense, Dr. Montse Fitó, coordinator of the Cardiovascular Risk and Nutrition Research Group of the Hospital del Mar research center and the CIBER for Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition (CIBEROBN), highlights that ingesting the appropriate amount of energy and making a quality breakfast add up to preventing cardiovascular risk. “We have confirmed that dietary recommendations regarding the quality of what is eaten have been effective, in terms of the evolution of risk factors over time in adults with high cardiovascular risk,” he says.
The results of the work are adjusted so that they are attributable to both the energy intake during breakfast and the quality of the food eaten and not to other factors. This leads the researcher at the Hospital del Mar and CIBEROBN, Karla-Alejandra Pérez-Vega, to ensure that “promoting healthy breakfast habits can contribute to healthy aging by reducing the risk of metabolic syndrome and the chronic diseases that are associated with it.” , thus improving the quality of life.”
Source: Hospital del Mar
Learn here several examples and ideas to prepare a quality breakfast
