A new Australian study found that people who skipped breakfast had a greater risk of heart diseases. The study noticed that those skipping breakfast at an early age often did have larger waist circumferences and had higher levels of cholesterol and insulin in their blood. Overall, they had less healthy lifestyles and may have detrimental effects on cardio-metabolic health.

Researchers at University of Tasmania and other places in Australia assessed the cardiovascular and metabolic risks.

Breakfast habits of the adults, followed up from childhood, were assessed at the same time as their cardiovascular risk; however researchers say the link between the two is still uncertain. Therefore, it is still a bit unclear whether people who skip breakfast as a child are in fact at greater risk of heart-related illness.

The team followed a sample of Australian children aged 9 to 15 years old in 1985, and revisited them between 2004 and 2006, when they were aged up to 36 years old.

However, only one third of the original 6,559 children taking part in the study were eventually followed up, and the number of people who skipped breakfast as children and adults was too small to yield a firm conclusion.

Funded by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council, the Australian National Heart Foundation, the Tasmanian Community Fund, Veolia Environmental Services, Sanitarium, ASICS and Target, the study was published in the peer-reviewed American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Probably governments should consider encouraging people to have regular breakfasts as part of their health campaigns.