The aim of this study was to investigate the associations between breakfast skipping and cardiometabolic health in 2,184 young Australian adults followed since childhood over a 20-year period. Participants from the Childhood Determinants of Adult Health (CDAH) study were classified into 4 groups for this study: skipped breakfast in neither childhood nor adulthood (n=1,359), skipped breakfast only in childhood (n=224), skipped breakfast only in adulthood (n=515), and skipped breakfast in both childhood and adulthood (n=86). Results showed that skipping breakfast was associated with a larger waist circumference, deteriorated cardiometabolic risk factors, poorer diet quality, and unhealthy lifestyle behaviours. More specifically, it was found that participants who skipped breakfast in both adulthood and childhood had, on average, a 4.7 cm larger waist circumference, a higher HOMA score, a higher body mass index, and a higher fasting insulin and total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol concentrations when compared with those who reported eating breakfast at both time points. These associations were attenuated but remained significant for waist circumference after adjustments for sex, age, socioeconomic factors, smoking status, physical activity and diet quality and also for fasting insulin, total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol after further adjustment for waist circumference. Thus, these results suggest that skipping breakfast over a long period is associated with an altered cardiometabolic risk profile.
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