Eating breakfast later could impact mortality as we age: Study

The Hungry Person's Breakfast

The Hungry Person’s Breakfast at Deluxe Diner in Watertown, MA

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(NewsNation) — A new study has found that eating meals like breakfast later in the day as we age, could negatively impact our health and even increase the risk of death.

Researchers at Mass General Brigham examined data collected from 3,000 older adults in the U.K. over the course of several decades, in order to understand how meal timing changes with age and how it relates to health and longevity. The data revealed that as people age, they tend to eat breakfast and dinner later.

However, this shift in meal timing also revealed some shifts in health. Researchers found that eating breakfast later was associated with physical and psychological illnesses, fatigue, oral health problems, depression and even an increased mortality.

“Latent class analysis of meal timing trajectories identify early and late eating groups, with 10-year survival rates of 86.7% in the late eating group compared to 89.5% in the early eating group,” the study noted.

Researchers concluded that additional studies and randomized controlled trials could help explore whether of meal timing could be used as a strategy to promote longevity.

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