• Posted August 29, 2025

Skipping Breakfast? Beware Broken Bones, Study Says

Breakfast is said to be the most important meal of the day, and a new study says that’s absolutely true as far as bone health is concerned.

Folks who skip breakfast have a greater risk of broken bones from osteoporosis, researchers reported Aug. 28 in the Journal of the Endocrine Society.

“We found skipping breakfast and having late dinners was associated with an increased risk of osteoporosis,” said lead researcher Dr. Hiroki Nakajima of Nara Medical University in Japan.

“Furthermore, these unhealthy eating habits were found to be linked with the accumulation of other lifestyle risk factors such as physical inactivity, smoking and insufficient sleep,” Nakajima added in a news release.

For the study, researchers analyzed health claims and checkup data from more than 927,000 people in Japan age 20 and older.

The team looked for associations between lifestyle and people’s risk of a hip, arm or leg fracture due to osteoporosis.

Results showed that skipping breakfast increased a person’s risk of a broken bone from osteoporosis by 18%, smoking by 11% and eating dinner late by 8%.

If a person both skipped breakfast and ate late dinner, their risk of osteoporosis and a bone break rose to 23%, researchers found.

Other unhealthy habits that increased risk of broken bones included daily alcohol consumption, a lack of exercise and bad sleep, researchers said.

“These results suggest that preventing osteoporosis and fractures requires not only healthy eating habits but also a broader effort to improve overall lifestyle behaviors,” Nakajima said.

People who skipped breakfast tended to have lower vitamin D and calcium intake, indicating that nutritional deficiencies could be contributing to their risk of osteoporosis, researchers wrote.

“These results indicated that osteoporosis is a lifestyle-related disease,” researchers concluded. “Future research is needed to investigate the relationship between late-night dinners and bone metabolism, as well as intervention studies focusing on guidance regarding skipping breakfast and having late dinners.”

More information

The National Institute on Aging has more on osteoporosis.

SOURCES: Endocrine Society, news release, Aug. 28, 2025; Journal of the Endocrine Society, Aug. 28, 2025