A Possible Penalty for Poor Dietary Choices

Metabolic Syndrome is a condition characterized by central obesity, hypertension, and adverse glucose and insulin metabolism, that may progress to type-2 diabetes.  Maria Wennberg, from Umea University (Sweden), and colleagues asked all students completing year 9 of their schooling in Lulea (Sweden) in 1981 (Northern Swedish Cohort) to answer questions about what they ate for breakfast. Twenty-seven years later, the respondents underwent a health check where the presence of metabolic syndrome and its various subcomponents was investigated. The data revealed that those young people who neglected to eat breakfast,, or ate a poor quality breakfast, had a 68% higher incidence of Metabolic Syndrome as adults, as compared with those who had eaten more substantial breakfasts in their youth. The lead author comments that: “our results and those of several previous studies suggest that a poor breakfast can have a negative effect on blood sugar regulation.”