Skipping Breakfast and Eating Fast Could Be Associated with Metabolic Syndrome—Clinical Cohort Study in Japan

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) has been reported to promote the development of atherosclerotic diseases and lower quality of life. Recently, it has also been reported that MetS could be a risk factor for some types of cancer, such as colon and pancreatic cancer. Several studies have reported that lifestyle, especially eating habits, was closely associated with metabolic diseases. However, the evidence among Japanese subjects is limited. We therefore conducted the present study to perform a cross-sectional evaluation of the relationship between eating habits and the prevalence of MetS among Japanese subjects. The present study included 6,925 Japanese subject (3,532 men and 3,393 women) who had undergone annual health checkups and received a questionnaire that included items on lifestyles such as frequency of skipping breakfast, pace of eating, usual physical activity, sleeping hours, alcohol consumption, and current smoking habits. MetS was diagnosed according to the criteria of the Japanese Society of Internal Medicine. To investigate the association between eating habits and MetS, we used multiple logistic regression analysis. Adjustments were made for age, sex, usual physical activity, sleeping hours, alcohol consumption, and current smoking habits. The results showed that skipping breakfast was positively associated with MetS; the adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for MetS in relation to skipping breakfast on the items “eating every day,” “skipping about 3 days per week,” and “skipping almost every day” were 1.00 (reference), 1.22 (0.93-1.60), and 1.41 (1.12-1.79), respectively. Eating fast was also associated with the prevalence of MetS; the adjusted ORs and 95% CIs in relation to an eating pace of “more than 20 min,” “10-20 min,” and “ less than 10 min” were 1.00 (reference), 1.27 (1.02-159), and 1.61 (1.26 2-2.06), respectively. These results suggest that eating breakfast every day and eating slowly would be beneficial to prevent MetS. Disclosure H. Senba: None. T. Miyake: None. W. Kurihara: None. Y. Sakiko: None. S. Yamamoto: None. S. Furukawa: None. M. Abe: None. B. Matsuura: None. Y. Hiasa: None.