Late Breakfast Increases Depression Risk And Health Problems In The Elderly

JAKARTA - As humans age, many aspects of life change. Starting from sleep patterns, physical activity, to eating time also shifts.

Recently, a long study showed late breakfast habits were closely related to various health problems in the elderly including depression, fatigue, mouth problems, to an increased risk of death.

Reporting from the Medical News Today page, the study was conducted by a group of scientists led by Hassan Dashti, PhD, RD, a nutrition scientist and sirkadian rhythmist from Massachusetts General Hospital.

Their team used data from 2,945 adults in the UK aged between 42 and 94, and followed suit for more than 20 years. Researchers evaluated when participants started eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and attributed it to physical and mental health conditions during the research period.

With age, many research participants began shifting breakfast and dinner to later hours. In addition, the span of time when a person consumes a meal window is narrower.

The researchers found that participants who used to have breakfast earlier in the day tended to have conditions of depression, anxiety, fatigue, mouth health problems, and multi-morphidity (more than one chronic disease).

"Experiencing depression, anxiety, fatigue, or poor mouth health can make it harder for the elderly to eat early. This shows that slower breakfast time can be a sign of the underlying health problems," Dashti said in his analysis.

The study also found that participants who had breakfast late in time faced a higher risk of death than those who had breakfast early.

In their analysis model, every additional hour of breakfast delay is attributed to an increased probability of death due to all causes (all-CAUSE mortality) of around 8'11 %.

This study is observational, not experimental, so it cannot immediately conclude that late breakfast causes depression or death.

Richard, a nutritionist, highlights this phenomenon is often seen in clinical practice. Elderly people who experience depression, fatigue, or mouth problems tend to find it difficult to eat breakfast on time. This situation can become a vicious circle, namely poor health conditions making breakfast late, which then worsens the condition.

In addition, this study also considers genetic factors: people with evening chrontype' genetic profiles (more likely to be active at night) are also more likely to eat late.

Here are some ideas that can be considered based on these findings:

- Strive for breakfast not to be delayed too long, ideally in 1.2 hours after waking up.

- Maintain a consistent daily eating routine so that the body is trained to eat at a certain time.

- Prioritizing breakfast that contains enough protein to help energy and stability of the mood throughout the day.

- In the elderly who experience difficulty eating, for example due to toothache or lack of appetite, consider food with a soft texture or a small but nutritious portion.

- For medical personnel and caregivers, changes in meal times for the elderly can be used as an additional signal to monitor their health.