Don’t Normally Eat Breakfast? You Could Be Setting Yourself Up For Type 2 Diabetes

Growing up, your mother probably insisted that breakfast was the ‘most important meal of the day.’ And according to a recent study, mom may be right. Wellness expert, Michael Roizen, MD, explains.

The study looked at data on 96,175 people to see if skipping breakfast had an impact on their health.

“What they found, was that the more people skipped breakfast – the more days a week – the higher their risk of type 2 diabetes,” says Dr. Roizen, who did not take part in the study.

In fact, researchers found that just one day of skipping breakfast was associated with a 6% percent increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes in comparison with people who never skipped their morning meal.

And the risk rose with each additional day that breakfast was skipped – to as high as 55%– if a person skipped breakfast four to five days per week.

“It’s best to eat your carbs at breakfast because morning is when your body is the most insulin-sensitive,” says Dr. Roizen. “Think of breakfast as the new ‘dinner’ in order to avoid a spike in blood sugar later in the day.

To get the most out of your metabolism, Dr. Roizen recommends eating most of the day’s calories during the daylight hours and not late into the evening.

“Eat only when the sun is out or when the sun is supposed to be out,” he suggests. “Eat more early, eat less later and don’t stereotype food – you can eat ‘dinner’ food for breakfast.”

More than 100 million Americans are living with diabetes or pre-diabetes, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.