Why not skip breakfast?

Most readers here probably understand that the biological response to skipping breakfast does widespread damage to the body. It provokes a catabolic ('tearing down') sympathetic nervous system response as the brain forces the breakdown of muscle tissue with 'fight or flight' chemicals (catecholamine neurotransmitters) to satisfy its need for steady glucose (gluconeogenesis). Meanwhile, weight loss is defeated by the suppression of thyroid function as an adaptation to perceived 'famine'. A study just published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition documents the long-term negative cardiovascular effects:

"The objective was to examine longitudinal associations of breakfast skipping in childhood and adulthood with cardiometabolic risk factors in adulthood."

2184 Australian children were followed over a period of twenty years into young adulthood. Skipping breakfast was defined as not eating between 0600 and 0900. Differences in mean waist circumference and blood glucose, insulin, and lipid concentrations were calculated (after controlling for relevant confounding variables). What did the data show?

"...participants who skipped breakfast in both childhood and adulthood had a larger waist circumference and higher fasting insulin, total cholesterol, and LDL cholesterol concentrations than did those who ate breakfast..."

This certainly makes sense in consideration of the compensatory blood sugar and insulin reaction to the hypoglycemic state imposed by failing to 'break' the nighttime 'fast' in the morning.The authors conclude by stating:

"Skipping breakfast over a long period may have detrimental effects on cardiometabolic health. Promoting the benefits of eating breakfast could be a simple and important public health message."