In teens? Have a hearty breakfast

Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper, goes an adage.

Now, scientists at Umeå University in Sweden have put their stamp on this, claiming that adolescents who ate poor breakfasts in youth displayed a higher incidence of metabolic syndrome 27 years later.

The study shows that the young people who neglected to eat breakfast or ate a poor breakfast had a 68 percent higher incidence of metabolic syndrome as adults.

This conclusion was drawn after taking into account socio-economic factors and other lifestyle habits of the adolescents in question.

In 1981, the study asked students completing year nine of their schooling to answer questions about what they ate for breakfast.

Twenty-seven years later, the respondents underwent a health check where the presence of metabolic syndrome and its various subcomponents was investigated.

"Our results suggest that a poor breakfast can have a negative effect on blood sugar regulation," said Maria Wennberg, the study's main author.

Abdominal obesity and high levels of fasting blood glucose levels could be most clearly linked with poor breakfast in youth, said the study published in the journal Public Health Nutrition.

Metabolic syndrome is a collective term for factors that are linked to an increased risk of suffering from cardiovascular disorders.

Metabolic syndrome encompasses abdominal obesity, high levels of harmful triglycerides, low levels of protective HDL (High Density Lipoprotein), high blood pressure and high fasting blood glucose levels.