As most of us rush through the daily grind, the first thing to slip off our schedule is often a proper meal. People tend to skip breakfast, delay meals, and often have dinner close to midnight. All this may seem harmless, but it really isn’t.Your mum was right – eating meals at the right time truly matters. Experts are now warning that such seemingly harmless habits could silently harm your bone health. A Japanese study has found that people who skip breakfast and eat late dinners are at higher risk of osteoporosis. The findings of the study were published in the Journal of the Endocrine Society.
Skipping breakfast and late dinners linked to osteoporosis
Lifestyle plays a crucial role in bone health. While it was already known that habits such as lack of exercise, alcohol consumption, and smoking increase people’s risk of osteoporosis, there was little research about the association between osteoporotic fractures and diet. The new study, however, found that people who skip breakfast and eat late dinners may have an increased risk of developing osteoporosis.“This study aimed to examine the association between lifestyle habits such as diet and the risk of osteoporotic fracture. We found that skipping breakfast and having late dinners was associated with an increased risk of osteoporosis. Furthermore, these unhealthy eating habits were found to be linked with the accumulation of other lifestyle risk factors such as physical inactivity, smoking, and insufficient sleep,” study author Hiroki Nakajima, M.D., Ph.D., of Nara Medical University in Nara, Japan, said in a statement.
Osteoporosis is a health condition that weakens bones, making them fragile and more likely to break, according to the NHS. This condition develops slowly over several years and is often only diagnosed when a fall or sudden impact causes a bone to fracture.To understand how meal timing affected bone health, the researchers used a large health check-up cohort of 927,130 adults (45.3% male and 54.7% female) from a Japanese claims database. They looked at how lifestyle factors and the diagnosis of osteoporotic fracture (hip, forearm, vertebral, and humeral fractures) were connected.The researchers found that people with unhealthy habits such as smoking, daily alcohol consumption, insufficient exercise or sleep, skipping breakfast, and having late dinners were more likely to be diagnosed with osteoporosis.“These results suggest that preventing osteoporosis and fractures requires not only healthy eating habits but also a broader effort to improve overall lifestyle behaviours,” Nakajima said.Note: The information provided in this article is for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before starting any new medication or treatment, or before changing your diet or supplement regimen.
