Eating breakfast regularly can bring many health benefits, including reducing the risk of obesity and cardiovascular disease, and improving the function of the immune system by reducing the level of cortisol. In addition, eating breakfast can also reduce the level of anxiety, combat insomnia, and improve the quality of life. However, many people often skip breakfast for various reasons. The physiological and psychological effects of this phenomenon are worth exploring.
In a study published in appetite on April 8, a group of Korean researchers collected data from the 2013 Korean community health survey to explore the correlation between breakfast frequency and depressive symptoms of individuals with different socioeconomic status. In brief, 207710 individuals aged 20 years and above were included in the study, and were divided into the following three groups based on the frequency of eating breakfast every week:
▲ seldom eat breakfast: 0-2 days a week
▲ sometimes eat breakfast: 3-5 days a week
▲ always eat breakfast: 6-7 days a week
The researchers judged whether the subjects had depressive experience by asking whether they had sadness or despair lasting for 2 weeks or more in the past year. The researchers used multiple regression analysis to explore the correlation between breakfast frequency and depressive experience. On the basis of adjusting for many confounding factors such as gender, age, marital status, living style, social activities, family income, occupation, smoking, drinking, stress, obesity, sleep and physical activities, the researchers also conducted a hierarchical and subgroup analysis on the research objects based on socioeconomic variables.
research results
The survey showed that 16.1%, 10.3% and 73.6% of the subjects seldom, sometimes and often ate breakfast, and 5.7% of the subjects reported depressive experience. After adjusting for other factors, the risk of depressive experience was 1.43 times (or 1.43, 95% CI 1.36-1.52) and 1.32 times (or 1.32, 95% CI 1.23-1.40) for those who “eat breakfast very little” and “sometimes” respectively.
Adjusted or value of correlation between breakfast consumption and depressive experience in individuals with different educational levels
（Lee SA， et al. 2017）
Subgroup analysis shows that this effect spans all socioeconomic strata, and is more obvious in the elderly, low family income and low education. As shown in the above figure, compared with those with higher education (high school and above), those with lower education (primary school and junior high school education) have a more obvious impact on the risk of depression, and the or value is higher.
discussion
This study shows that those who eat breakfast less frequently have a higher risk of depression. The absorption of carbohydrates can explain the above phenomenon: after fasting at night leads to a drop in blood sugar, adrenaline and cortisol levels rise, and anxiety and irritability are accompanied; Among them, high cortisol is related to the elevation of inflammatory cytokines, which in turn can affect the level of neurotransmitters, especially 5-HT. However, after eating breakfast, carbohydrates are converted to glucose, cortisol levels drop, and emotions calm down. In addition, carbohydrate absorption itself can lead to changes in neurotransmitter levels.
The study also found that this correlation was more significant in some subgroups, including the elderly and those with lower socioeconomic status. From the perspective of public health, eating breakfast may be a healthy and economical way to reduce the risk of depression, especially for the above susceptible people.
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