Female breakfast skippers display a disrupted cortisol rhythm and elevated blood pressure

Chronic stress and over-activity in the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis may link breakfast skipping and poor cardiometabolic health. Missing the first major meal of the day in rodents prolongs elevated circulating corticosterone at a time when it\u27s normally decreasing. To extend these findings to humans, we hypothesized that habitual breakfast skippers would display a similar pattern of circulating cortisol and alterations in meal and stress-induced cortisol reactions. Normal weight to obese women aged 18–45 years old who were strictly defined as either breakfast skippers (n = 30) or breakfast eaters (n = 35) were invited to participate in our study. Normal breakfast habits were maintained for the entire study period and each participant attended 4 lab visits. Over the first 2 lab visits, body composition, fasting clinical chemistries, and self-reports of chronic stress were assessed. On each of 2 additional days (lab visits 3 and 4), salivary free cortisol was measured at home upon waking and at bedtime, and in the lab in response to a standard lunch, ad libitum afternoon snack buffet, and stress and control (relaxation) tasks. The order of the control and stress test visits was randomized. While body weight, body composition, HOMA-IR, total and HDL cholesterol did not statistically differ (p N 0.05), both diastolic and systolic blood pressure was elevated (p b 0.01) and LDL cholesterol was lower (p = 0.04) in the breakfast skipper group. Compared to the breakfast eaters and on the control task visit only, breakfast skippers had higher circulating cortisol from arrival to midafternoon (p b 0.01) and during the snack buffet (p b 0.05). Furthermore, the lunch-induced cortisol reaction was larger in the ‘skippers’ (p = 0.03). On both stress and control visit days, the diurnal cortisol amplitude was significantly (p = 0.02) blunted in breakfast skippers. Self-reports of chronic stress did not differ between the groups. These data indicate that habitually skip- ping breakfast is associated with stress-independent over-activity in the HPA axis which, if prolonged, may increase risk (e.g., hypertension) for cardiometabolic disease in some people

The Implications of Eating or Skipping Breakfast: Physiology, Behavior, and the Satiety Hormone Response

Population based descriptive studies, clinical trials, and evidence analysis of the literature have identified regular breakfast consumption as opposed to breakfast omission, as a habit independently associated with a more healthy weight. Recent studies have identified differences in insulin sensitivity and satiety hormones between breakfast eating and skipping groups, which help to explain the association between breakfast consumption and weight regulation. Evaluation of fasting insulin sensitivity, behavior, and the postprandial satiety response between breakfast groups were used to further elucidate the physiologic response to skipping breakfast. First, through a review of the literature the proposed physiologic response to consuming breakfast as well as omitting breakfast is presented. A connection is made between the satiety hormone response and key components of the breakfast meal, which include composition, caloric load, energy density, volume, and time of day. The review findings suggest that breakfast consumption as opposed to breakfast omission stimulates a physiologic response that may help promote a healthy body weight. Chapter 2 examines if self reported habitual breakfast skipping was related to fasting insulin resistance in a sample of 321 adults. Participants completed a questionnaire that focused on eating occurrences throughout the day and were then classified by how frequently they ate breakfast. Breakfast eating was related to fasting insulin and HOMA2-IR, both before and after adjusting for age, sex, BMI, and exercise. These data suggest that fasting insulin resistance is affected by breakfast omission, and supports previous intervention studies that report a decline in postprandial insulin action after breakfast omission. Chapter 3 evaluates the relationship between cognitive perception and the satiety hormone response. In a crossover intervention, satiety hormones (insulin and GLP-1), the hunger hormone ghrelin, and subjective ratings of meal satisfaction and eating behavior were compared before and after a low or high fiber breakfast meal. We found that reported perceptions of meal satisfaction, the perception of the breakfast meal, and the behavioral description of cognitive restraint can influence the physiologic regulation of satiety hormones measured in response to meal ingestion. Further evaluation of food consumption habits should consider cognitive perception as it may be important for optimal satiety and influence food intake regulation. Lastly, chapter 4 was a cross-sectional study to assess the hormones insulin, leptin, GLP-1, and glucagon following a standard lunch meal in 30 women who were habitual breakfast eaters or habitual skippers. We found clear differences in circulating hormones between breakfast eaters and breakfast skippers even though all participants had similar hormone values at the start of the protocol. Our data further support the idea that regularly eating breakfast promotes changes in the postprandial pattern of satiety hormones

Female breakfast skippers display a disrupted cortisol rhythm and elevated blood pressure

Chronic stress and over-activity in the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis may link breakfast skipping and poor cardiometabolic health. Missing the first major meal of the day in rodents prolongs elevated circulating corticosterone at a time when it\u27s normally decreasing. To extend these findings to humans, we hypothesized that habitual breakfast skippers would display a similar pattern of circulating cortisol and alterations in meal and stress-induced cortisol reactions. Normal weight to obese women aged 18–45 years old who were strictly defined as either breakfast skippers (n = 30) or breakfast eaters (n = 35) were invited to participate in our study. Normal breakfast habits were maintained for the entire study period and each participant attended 4 lab visits. Over the first 2 lab visits, body composition, fasting clinical chemistries, and self-reports of chronic stress were assessed. On each of 2 additional days (lab visits 3 and 4), salivary free cortisol was measured at home upon waking and at bedtime, and in the lab in response to a standard lunch, ad libitum afternoon snack buffet, and stress and control (relaxation) tasks. The order of the control and stress test visits was randomized. While body weight, body composition, HOMA-IR, total and HDL cholesterol did not statistically differ (p N 0.05), both diastolic and systolic blood pressure was elevated (p b 0.01) and LDL cholesterol was lower (p = 0.04) in the breakfast skipper group. Compared to the breakfast eaters and on the control task visit only, breakfast skippers had higher circulating cortisol from arrival to midafternoon (p b 0.01) and during the snack buffet (p b 0.05). Furthermore, the lunch-induced cortisol reaction was larger in the ‘skippers’ (p = 0.03). On both stress and control visit days, the diurnal cortisol amplitude was significantly (p = 0.02) blunted in breakfast skippers. Self-reports of chronic stress did not differ between the groups. These data indicate that habitually skip- ping breakfast is associated with stress-independent over-activity in the HPA axis which, if prolonged, may increase risk (e.g., hypertension) for cardiometabolic disease in some people

Perspective: A Comprehensive Evaluation of Data Quality in Nutrient Databases

Nutrient databases are a critical component of nutrition science and the basis of exciting new research in precision nutrition (PN). To identify the most critical components needed for improvement of nutrient databases, food composition data were analyzed for quality, with completeness being the most important measure, and for FAIRness, how well the data conformed with the data science criteria of findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR). Databases were judged complete if they provided data for all 15 nutrition fact panel (NFP) nutrient measures and all 40 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) essential nutrient measures for each food listed. Using the gold standard the USDA standard reference (SR) Legacy database as surrogate, it was found that SR Legacy data were not complete for either NFP or NASEM nutrient measures. In addition, phytonutrient measures in the 4 USDA Special Interest Databases were incomplete. To evaluate data FAIRness, a set of 175 food and nutrient data sources were collected from worldwide. Many opportunities were identified for improving data FAIRness, including creating persistent URLs, prioritizing usable data storage formats, providing Globally Unique Identifiers for all foods and nutrients, and implementing citation standards. This review demonstrates that despite important contributions from the USDA and others, food and nutrient databases in their current forms do not yet provide truly comprehensive food composition data. We propose that to enhance the quality and usage of food and nutrient composition data for research scientists and those fashioning various PN tools, the field of nutrition science must step out of its historical comfort zone and improve the foundational nutrient databases used in research by incorporating data science principles, the most central being data quality and data FAIRness