There's long been a connection between skipping the first meal of the day and health problems from weight gain to stress, but new research found that men who skip breakfast are at a greater risk of heart disease too.
Harvard scientists conducted a 16-year-long study on 27,000 men between the ages of 45 to 82, and found that those who skipped breakfast were 27 percent more likely to have a heart attack or die from heart disease.
Midnight snackers have an even greater risk of heart problems. The study found that men who ate late at night were 55 percent more likely to develop heart disease.
Harvard researcher Eric Rimm told NPR that a "simple lifestyle change" could dramatically lower one's health risks.
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"It's such a simple lifestyle change that people can make," Harvard researcher Eric Rimm told NPR.
"It was somewhat surprising to us that even after we statistically accounted for differences in diet, smoking patterns and exercise patterns ... you still see an elevated risk of heart attack [among the non-breakfast eaters]," Rimm added.
So why is breakfast so important.
Study author Leah Cahill, also of Harvard, told Forbes that "fasting" or not eating meals contributes to a myriad of health problems.
As we sleep all night we are fasting, and so if we regularly do not ‘break fast’ in the morning, it puts a strain on our bodies that over time can lead to insulin resistance, hypercholesterolemia and blood pressure problems, which can then lead to heart disease.
