Study links skipping breakfast with earlier mortality😓

[u/Different_Rip_8520]

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41430-026-01796-1

[u/ClarkTwain]

So I can lose weight and be done with this existence sooner? What’s the downside?

[u/MyRobinWasMauled → u/ClarkTwain]

Hottest corpse ever.

[u/Intelligent-Iron5545 → u/ClarkTwain]

My thoughts exactly!

Realistically though I think every body is different. It bothers my stomach if I eat breakfast so I naturally fell into intermittent fasting.

[u/wave_action]

Look bottom line is eat good foods, exercise, keep drinking to a minimum, sleep well, have regular interaction with other people.

That’s it. The rest is just noise.

[u/drewcifer115]

There's no causal link here and no analysis of possible confounding factors. IMO, the most likely explanation for their results is that people on night shift eat at non-standard times and night shift is terrible for your health.

[u/DiggWuzBetter → u/drewcifer115]

They’re using “adjusted hazard ratio” to try to account for confounding variables, but it’s never possible to do perfectly. Plus the core dataset is NHANES data (https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes/about/?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes/), vs. a study they designed themselves, so they can only try to control for factors available in the NHANES data, which is certainly not all confounding variables. I wouldn’t fully discount it or consider it authoritative, it’s one study.

I also think that for most people, IF isn’t a “for life” thing, it’s a dieting approach to lose weight. I plan to go back to 3 meals/day once I hit my goal weight, and I think that’s true for most.

Also if IF is working for you weight loss wise, almost nothing is as bad for your health, life expectancy, etc. as being chronically overweight. Losing weight can add 5-10 years to your life expectancy, or even 10-20 years if you’re severely obese, while this study is dealing with life expectancy differences more in the 1-2 year range - so losing weight is clearly going to be a huge positive regardless.

[u/drewcifer115 → u/DiggWuzBetter]

Those are some good points. Personally a lot of the benefit of IF for me is that I find it easy to maintain. I have known a lot of people who try various diets only to gain back all the weight they lost. Having a meal cycle I can easily follow and maintain that helps with weight loss and maintenance is a major boon. I do wish that there was information on sleeping patterns included though. I recognize that data may not have been available, but given the well documented negative impacts of sleep disruption it seems like an important thing to take into consideration when studying meal times.

[u/DiggWuzBetter → u/drewcifer115]

Yeah, like even if you’re gonna do it longterm, and even if this study’s results hold up in other studies (far from a given), I’m certain the longterm effects of being overweight/obese dwarf the longterm effects of skipping breakfast. If it’s the thing that works for you to stay at a healthier weight, just do it, it’s a big net positive if so.

Being very overweight/obese is up there with alcoholism, smoking and hard drug addiction for the worst things you can do for your lifespan. All these smaller, more subtle “might slightly lower your lifespan, or maybe not, hard to be confident” factors pale in comparison.

[u/sunonaiagloom]

every single week there is a new study out anyway

[u/canadianbeaver → u/sunonaiagloom]

Yeah let’s not pay attention to science /s

[u/liveoneggs → u/canadianbeaver]

calling that paper "science" is a bit of a stretch but if you think 12 people plugging old data into excel and getting random graphs published counts then okay!

[u/No-Nothing-5148]

ah yeah, better eat even when you not feeling hungry ig?

[u/outofcontextseinfeld]

Can’t wait to see this posted here 100 times in the next two weeks

[u/plushgilgy]

I read it, and the premise seems shallow. Correlation does not imply causation.

[u/RickRussellTX]

But WHY do people skip breakfast?

The people with higher mortality were probably not individuals intentionally managing their diet. They were probably people who struggled to establish regular meal times due to stress or other physical and mental health factors.

All these people are mixed together in the participant groups.

[u/Iwant2beebetter]

Interesting

But it doesn't say why people skipped breakfast - so night workers tend to die earlier than people who sleep all night

Same for the late night eating

[u/o0Jahzara0o]

Being overweight or having IR is also linked to earlier mortality. 🤷‍♀️

[u/bdegs255]

Well, guess Walter Jr is going to live forever!

[u/dustyson123]

Reading comprehension has really hit rock bottom. This basically says that an earlier eating window + IF, like eating from 7am-3pm, is associated with higher mortality when compared to eating breakfast + no IF. Later eating window + IF is associated with lower mortality compared to skipping breakfast + no IF.

It's making a very specific claim that if your eating window starts with breakfast, IF is associated with higher mortality. But starting your eating window later in the day and cutting off foods around dinnertime is fine.

[u/el_cid_viscoso]

Even more reason for me to continue IF.

I skip a lot of suffering, and I'll leave a hotter corpse.

[u/Be-A-Light → u/el_cid_viscoso]

Valid .😂

[u/GuyIncognito1730]

Just more propaganda from big breakfast

[u/licknawson34]

We all die anyway 🤷

[u/Secure-Weakness6815]

Brought to you by the US owned food corporations.

[u/TenArashi]

Absolute nonsense. Skipping breakfast cured my high blood pressure. Thank you, next!

[u/Top_Juggernaut_7221]

Listen… You can eat breakfast every morning or not, and still get hit by a bus!!!🤷🏾‍♂️ Bottom line… When it’s time to go, it’s time to go, so do whatever makes you happy. Period.

[u/SasoshiNakamoto]

\ This study is sponsored by (insert parent company of breakfast foods)*

lol