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There’s an interesting new study that might make you think twice about when you have your first meal of the day.

Researchers followed about 3,000 adults (between the ages 42 to 94), for more than two decades. They weren’t looking at calories, carbohydrates or cholesterol. Instead, they looked at something most of us never think about: the timing of breakfast.

On average, most people in this study ate breakfast around 8 in the morning. But as they aged, their first meal shifted later and later, sometimes creeping toward 10 or even 11 in the morning.

That may not sound like a big deal, but it ended up revealing something shocking: Each additional hour of delay in breakfast was associated with about a 10% higher risk of dying earlier!

By the end of the study, the folks who pushed their first meal to late morning had lower survival rates compared to those who ate earlier.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that eating breakfast at 10 a.m. will automatically shorten your lifespan. We can’t take it that far. The researchers themselves make it clear that the timing of breakfast is more a marker of health than the cause of it.

In other words, if you’re dealing with fatigue, depression, pain, low appetite or dental problems, you might naturally put off getting up and eating breakfast. These are the same health issues that are linked to shorter lifespan. So is it the late breakfast, or the fact that people who feel unwell often eat later?

Didn’t track foods

This study by Mass General Brigham didn’t evaluate what people were eating. A breakfast for one person might have been oatmeal and berries. For another, breakfast might be black coffee with two sugars. And let’s be honest, breakfast has become a socially acceptable way to eat cake, cleverly rebranded as pancakes, muffins and waffles.

These food choices can affect blood sugar, blood pressure and heart health very differently. For someone with undiagnosed hypertension, a late-morning coffee might push up blood pressure when what their body really needs is potassium, magnesium or fiber-rich foods.

As a pharmacist, I look at the bigger picture. Breakfast timing may be a clue, but food choices and medications also play a huge role in long-term health.

For instance, certain blood pressure drugs can deplete magnesium, a mineral that naturally relaxes blood vessels. Coffee depletes magnesium too. It’s a “drug mugger” effect I often write about.

If your breakfast is coffee, your blood pressure will slowly rise and eventually worsen heart rhythm and blood pressure.

The takeaway? Don’t panic if you prefer a later breakfast; the study shows correlation, not causation.

But it’s a reminder that meal timing deserves our attention. When you do eat, make it count with foods that fit your body and health needs. Early bird or brunch lover, what’s on your plate matters more than the clock.

For a deeper dive into this study and some free ebooks to learn more, visit me at suzycohen.com or check drugmuggers.com.

Suzy Cohen is a registered pharmacist and author ofThe 24-Hour Pharmacist and Real Solutions from Head to Toe.