Diabetes Health in the News Podcast: Breakfast Buffers Stroke Risk

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A recent study completed at Osaka University found that eating breakfast could be a helpful strategy for stroke prevention. Researchers followed over 82,000 healthy Japanese individuals ages 45-74 over a 15-year time span (1995-2010). Participants were surveyed about their breakfast eating habits and how often they ate breakfast each week.

None of the participants had heart disease or cancer, but after the 15-year period, there were nearly 3,800 strokes within the group. An analysis found that participants who never ate breakfast had a higher risk for both strokes and the development of cardiovascular disease. Cerebral hemorrhages were also extremely common with this group.

Researchers believe that one of the reasons there may be a connection between stroke risk, and breakfast habits is the way a breakfast affects morning blood pressure. It should be noted that many cerebral hemorrhages also occur during the earlier hours of the day.

These findings were published in Stroke on January 5, 2016.