As we grow older, our eating habits change—not just what we eat, but also when we eat.
A new study from Mass General Brigham and other research teams has found that changes in the timing of meals may be a sign of health issues in older adults.
The results were published in the journal Communications Medicine.
Researchers found that as people age, they tend to eat breakfast and dinner later in the day. They also eat within a shorter time window. These shifts in meal timing may seem small, but they could have a big impact on health.
The study looked at nearly 3,000 adults in the UK, aged between 42 and 94 years old. The participants were followed for over 20 years, and their health and meal patterns were carefully tracked. Blood samples and other health data were also collected.
The most important finding was that people who started eating breakfast later were more likely to have physical or mental health issues, such as depression, tiredness, or problems with their teeth.
People who had trouble preparing meals or who didn’t sleep well also tended to eat later. Most importantly, people who ate breakfast later in the day had a higher risk of dying during the study period.
The researchers also found that people who are naturally “night owls”—those who prefer to sleep and wake later—were more likely to eat meals later in the day. This could mean that some meal timing habits are influenced by a person’s natural body clock.
Dr. Hassan Dashti, a nutrition scientist and one of the study’s lead authors, said that changes in when older adults eat—especially breakfast—could be a simple sign that something might be wrong with their health. Noticing these changes could help doctors and families catch health problems early.
Dashti added that encouraging older people to stick to regular mealtimes may help them live longer and stay healthier. He also pointed out that new eating trends like time-restricted eating or intermittent fasting might affect older people differently than younger ones, and that more research is needed to understand these effects.
Dr. Altug Didikoglu, another author of the study, said that until now, little was known about how meal timing changes in later life or how it connects to health and lifespan. This study helps fill that gap and shows that later meal times, especially delayed breakfast, are linked to serious health concerns.
This research adds new meaning to the old saying, “breakfast is the most important meal of the day”—especially for older adults. Paying attention to when meals are eaten could be just as important as what’s on the plate.
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The study is published in Communications Medicine.
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