Getting older and eating breakfast later? You may be more likely to die soon

Older adults who chow down on breakfast well after sunrise could be in for a rude awakening.

A new study out of Mass General Brigham reveals how meal timing shifts with age — and links a later breakfast time later in life to depression, fatigue, oral health problems and even a modestly higher risk of early death. 3

“Our research suggests that changes in when older adults eat, especially the timing of breakfast, could serve as an easy-to-monitor marker of their overall health status,” said lead study author Hassan Dashti , a nutrition scientist and circadian biologist at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Dashti’s team analyzed data, including blood samples, from nearly 3,000 UK residents with an average age of 64.

Participants were questioned about their meal and sleep habits, s