In many homes, mornings can be a hectic rush to get out the door. With the chaos of trying to get the kids off to school and make it to work on time, breakfast may occasionally—or frequently—be overlooked. But if that’s the case in your household, you might want to rethink your morning schedule to ensure you’ll have some time to eat a little something. New research suggests that missing breakfast even once a week can elevate your risk for diabetes.
The study, which took place at Heinrich Heine University in Dusseldorf, Germany, found that the likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes increases in people who skip breakfast once a week and jumps considerably higher when breakfast is skipped multiple times a week. These results are based on an analysis of six different investigations that examined breakfast consumption and diabetes risk. The studies had a combined total of 96,175 participants, and 4,935 of those individuals had been diagnosed with diabetes.
The researchers found that forgoing a morning meal one time per week was linked to a six percent higher risk of developing diabetes—which may not sound like a lot. But the risk rose with each additional day of missed breakfast, topping out at a whopping 55 percent greater diabetes risk in those who skipped that meal four to five times a week. After that point, missing the sixth and seventh day resulted in no greater risk. It would seem that diabetes only works a five-day week.
Why would breakfast make such an impact on diabetes risk? After many hours without eating overnight, the food you consume in the morning revs up your metabolism for the next few hours. Through the night, with no food intake, your blood glucose levels drop. In the morning when you eat, however, your body goes to work converting the incoming foods into sugar to use for energy. The pancreas boosts the amount of insulin it produces and regulates blood sugar levels accordingly. But if you skip breakfast, it can delay those vital steps in the process and fail to properly balance blood sugar until much later in the day, thus raising your risk.
