Big Breakfasts Can Keep Those with Heart Issues Super Happy, Lower Symptoms of Depression; Here's How

It is a known fact that whatever you eat impacts your physical and mental health. However, according to a new study, those battling heart diseases are more likely to keep away depression, stress, and anxiety if they eat a big, calorie-rich breakfast.

Researchers from China say there is evidence that suggests that dietary factors play a big role in increasing and developing depression if you have heart diseases like a high risk of heart attacks and stroke. “Heart disease patients are more likely to develop depression when compared to the general population, and dietary factors have been shown to play an important role in depression occurrence and development,” noted a team led by Dr. Hongquan Xie of the Harbin Medical University.

The study, published in the journal BMC Medicine, says the timing of calorie intake helps regulate circadian rhythms and metabolism—both of which, if regulated and boosted, can also relieve symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Circadian rhythms—the physical, mental, and behavioural changes that occur in an organism over a 24-hour cycle—are a contributor to depression, as they work on your internal clock, which is influenced by light and dark. Since heart disease patients are already at heightened risk for depression, the new study looked at possible links between daily meals and a patient's mental health.

The team studied data from 2013-2018 from more than 32,000 Americans who enrolled in the US National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey. The average age of the participants was 60 years—most had heart disease, and nearly 600 were diagnosed with depression. Survey participants reported to the scientists what and when they ate during a typical day.

The data showed that those who consumed more than 700 calories at breakfast were 30 per cent less prone to depression as compared to those who ate the skimpiest breakfasts with an average of 88 calories.

Researchers said when the participants shifted even 5 per cent of their daily calories from dinner or lunch to breakfast, it was tied to a 5 per cent lowering of their depression risk.

The study also found that the levels of particle nutrients—protein or carbohydr not linked to depression risk.

"When you eat is as important as what you eat. Dietary energy consumption time should coordinate with body clock fluctuations to reduce the risk of depression,” researchers wrote in the study.

According to experts, nutritious breakfast meals include:

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