Skipping breakfast vs late dinner: What’s worse for your heart?

Best meal timings: Eating breakfast every day and finishing dinner before 8 p.m. helps the body's metabolism work better with its internal clock (Images: Pexels)

• Skipping breakfast and eating dinner late raise heart disease risk
• Combining both habits can increase risk up to fivefold
• Eating breakfast and early dinner may improve heart health

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The timing of your meals matters as much as the quality of your diet, but most people skip breakfast and eat dinner late. These two common habits, which are often taken lightly, are linked to a higher risk of heart disease. Evidence shows that each habit is bad on its own, but when combined, they make things much worse.

Dr Deebanshu Gupta, Interventional Cardiologist at Sarvodya Hospital, Jalandhar, shared his insights on the repercussions of skipping meals, eating late, and combining the two.

Skipping breakfast and heart health

People who often skip breakfast are more likely to develop heart disease and die from all causes, according to large population studies. A long-term study published in Circulation followed almost 27,000 men for more than 15 years and found that people who skipped breakfast regularly had a 27 percent higher risk of coronary heart disease. Dr Gupta cautioned, “Not eating breakfast throws off your circadian rhythm, raises cortisol and adrenaline levels, and over time raises LDL cholesterol, insulin resistance, blood pressure, and inflammation.”

Also read | 5 breakfast foods that will keep you energetic throughout the day

Late-night meals and heart disease risk

Eating dinner late, especially after 9 p.m., seems to be even worse. The same Circulation study found that people who ate late at night were 55 percent more likely to get heart disease. Another research shows that eating dinner late at night greatly raises the risk of having a stroke. “The body does not digest food at night. Late meals mess up blood pressure, glucose control, triglycerides, and put more stress on blood vessels,” said Dr Gupta.

The most dangerous mix

Strong evidence comes from a study of 113 heart attack survivors. A month after leaving the hospital, among those who regularly had late-night dinners before the heart attack, 5.3 percent died, 17.7 percent had recurrent events, and 23 percent reached a combined endpoint (death or ischaemic event). Those doing both faced up to a fivefold higher risk.

Also read | French biochemist shares 5 easy options for breakfast; some of them don’t require cooking

What medical evidence supports

According to Dr Gupta, major heart organisations now see meal timing as a sign of a cardiovascular risk. Eating breakfast every day and finishing dinner before 8 p.m. helps the body's metabolism work better with its internal clock. This can lower blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and improve long-term heart health.

Disclaimer: This article, including health and fitness advice, only provides generic information. Don’t treat it as a substitute for qualified medical opinion. Always consult a specialist for specific health diagnosis.