"Older people who skip breakfast, risk of cognitive decline ↑"
Dec 10, 2024
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According to findings by Jun Zhang et al., recently published in the Journal of Neurorastology, skipping breakfast has been shown to disrupt energy homeostasis and impair brain function.
This is the result of the researchers' 36-month follow-up of the sociodemographic information and breakfast skipping habits of 859 elderly people over the age of 60 in Sichuan, China, from 2021. Of these, 117 were classified as people who frequently skipped breakfast. The researchers evaluated cognitive function using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) at 18-month intervals and compared the trajectory of cognitive changes between those who skip breakfast and those who do not.
There was no significant difference in MMSE score according to absence of breakfast at 18 months follow-up, but MMSE score in those who habitually skipped breakfast at 36 months after follow-up was significantly lower, and the rate of cognitive decline was also faster. Absence of breakfast was confirmed as a major risk factor for cognitive decline, in which MMSE scores decreased by more than 3 points, and correcting age, sex, education level, body mass index (BMI), high blood pressure, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia showed the same results. In the last follow-up, participants who skipped breakfast showed significantly higher levels of ptau181 and NfL in plasma, the diagnostic indicators for Alzheimer's, than those who did not. As a result of analyzing brain volume through MRI, greater brain atrophy was observed in people who skipped breakfast.
The researchers believe that breakfast skipping may be related to cognitive decline in the elderly, and emphasized the importance of changing the habit of skipping breakfast to maintain cognitive function and restore nerves.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
