Hearty breakfasts for a healthy heart

There’s already a long list of reasons we should start the day with a healthy breakfast. From increasing our mental performance through the day to lowering our risk of diabetes, the benefits of eating breakfast are many and varied. And recent world first research has gone a step further by using ultrasound imaging to look at the development of atherosclerosis in groups with different breakfast habits.

Atherosclerosis, a narrowing and hardening of the arteries, is the leading cause of cardiovascular disease which is the major killer of Australians, taking one life every 12 minutes. It is the slow development of fatty deposits on artery walls which build up over time, with the first symptom too often being the last, heart attack or stroke.

In this latest study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, researchers screened 4,000 middle aged participants for what’s called sub clinical atherosclerosis. This is plaque that’s contributing to narrowing arteries, increasing risk, but not yet causing any symptoms.

Participants fell into three groups:

• those who regularly skipped breakfast;
• those who ate a low calorie breakfast; and
• those who ate a more substantial breakfast which made up more than 20% of their daily energy intake.

What they found was those who skipped breakfast had the highest rates of plaque, while those who ate the substantial breakfast had the lowest.

Better daily diets
The study participants who ate a big breakfast also had the highest average daily fruit and vegetable and dietary fibre intakes and the lowest red meat and daily energy intakes.

Better biometrics
Participants who ate a big breakfast had the lowest average weight, BMI, waist circumference, triglycerides, total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol – the type that collects on artery walls.

Better health
Those who ate the biggest breakfasts had the lowest rates of diabetes and high blood pressure and the smallest percentage of people with 2 or more cardiovascular disease risk factors.

The researchers are quick to point out that the study doesn’t prove breakfast itself acts against the formation of plaques, but that it’s one of a cluster of behaviours that appear to work together to reduce the risk of heart disease.

What about breakfast skipping?

The study found that when compared to a high-energy breakfast, regular breakfast skipping was associated with a higher prevalence of noncoronary atherosclerosis (disease affecting large and medium sized noncoronary arteries), and this was independent of other dietary cardiovascular risk factors.

Overall, those that skipped breakfast tended to have unhealthy food choices, frequently eat out, and also have busy schedules which may be underlying factors for breakfast skipping behaviour.

So start your morning with a substantial, nutritious breakfast to help set yourself up for a day of healthy choices your arteries will thank you for. Try one of these nutrient-rich breakfasts to kickstart your day.

First published in The Record. 

Want more information?

Our nutrition fact sheets, created by accredited dietitians, provide the latest nutrition and lifestyle information to help you understand which foods are the best to eat. Click here to see the heart health nutrition fact sheets.