Skipping Breakfast and Risk of Mortality from Cancer, Circulatory Diseases and All Causes: Findings from the Japan Collaborative Cohort Study

BACKGROUND Breakfast eating habits are a dietary pattern marker and appear to be a useful predictor of a healthy lifestyle. Many studies have reported the unhealthy effects of skipping breakfast. However, there are few studies on the association between skipping breakfast and mortality. In the present study, we examined the association between skipping breakfast and mortality from cancer, circulatory diseases and all causes using data from a large-scale cohort study, the Japan Collaborative Cohort Study (JACC) Study. METHODS A cohort study of 34,128 men and 49,282 women aged 40-79 years was conducted, to explore the association between lifestyle and cancer in Japan. Participants completed a baseline survey during 1988 to 1990 and were followed until the end of 2009. We classified participants into two groups according to dietary habits with respect to eating or skipping breakfast and carried out intergroup comparisons of lifestyle. Multivariate analysis was performed using the Cox proportional hazard regression model. RESULTS There were 5,768 deaths from cancer and 5,133 cases of death owing to circulatory diseases and 17,112 cases for all causes of mortality during the median 19.4 years follow-up. Skipping breakfast was related to unhealthy lifestyle habits. After adjusting for confounding factors, skipping breakfast significantly increased the risk of mortality from circulatory diseases [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.42] and all causes (HR = 1.43) in men and all causes mortality (HR = 1.34) in women. CONCLUSION Our findings showed that skipping breakfast is associated with increasing risk of mortality from circulatory diseases and all causes among men and all causes mortality among women in Japan.