U.S. men who skip breakfast may increase heart disease risk

BOSTON, July 23 (UPI) -- Men who regularly skip breakfast may have an increased risk of heart disease, U.S. researchers say.

Leah E. Cahill of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston and colleagues analyzed the eating habits, including breakfast, of 26,902 U.S. men, ages 45-82, who were found to be free of cardiovascular disease and cancer when assessed in 1992 for the Health Professionals Follow-up Study.

During 16 years of follow-up, 1,527 incident coronary heart disease cases were diagnosed. Computer models were used to estimate relative risks and adjustments were made for demographic, diet, lifestyle and other coronary heart disease risk factors.

The study, published in the journal Circulation, found men who skipped breakfast had a 27 percent higher risk of coronary heart disease compared with men who did not skip a morning meal.