New research published in the journal Communications Medicine suggests that meal timing, specifically the time at which you eat breakfast, may influence your risk of depression, sleep problems, and even death.
The study included data from nearly 3,000 adults in the United Kingdom. The participants were ages 42 to 94 years old and were followed for over 20 years as part of the study. During that time, the participants underwent multiple assessments of their meal timing and completed health and lifestyle surveys. What and when we eat tends to change as we age, and this study sought to determine whether meal timing is associated with health issues or all-cause mortality as we age.
The results showed that as people aged, they tended to eat both breakfast and dinner at later times. Additionally, the window during which people ate tended to get shorter with age. Interestingly, later breakfast times were consistently associated with having more physical and mental health problems. In particular, later breakfast times were associated with depression, fatigue, and oral health issues. Eating meals later was also associated with worse sleep. Most importantly, eating breakfast later with increased age was associated with a higher risk of death from any cause.
The authors noted that meal timing, and particularly breakfast timing, could serve as a simple marker of health status in older adults. While the specific mechanisms causing the association are unknown, both doctors and patients could use shifts in mealtimes as an early warning sign of potential physical or mental health issues. Encouraging older adults to stick to a regular eating schedule may also be an easy way to promote health and longevity in that population. Most importantly, later mealtimes, and particularly later breakfast times, seem to be tied to an increased risk of health problems and death for older adults.
Sources: Communications Medicine, Science Daily
