Skipping Breakfast Increases Diabetes Risk 20 Percent in Men

If you avoid breakfast, watch out, because scientists have found that men regularly skipping their morning meal are more likely to develop diabetes. The study discovered that missing out on food first thing in the morning increases a man's chances of getting the disease by more than 20% compared to men who routinely eat after waking up in the morning. The latest results, from a major investigation involving about 30,000 men, offer the strongest evidence yet that eating breakfast can reduce the risk of diabetes. They also show that even men, who are not overweight and may have a reasonably healthy diet the rest of the time, could still be at risk if they miss breakfast. The findings emerged as part of a wide-ranging study being carried out into male health by researchers at Harvard School of Public Medicine. Researchers tracked the breakfast habits of 29,206 men over a 16-year period. None had diabetes at the start of the study. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, April 2012