Your mother was right: Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day. Not only does it give you energy to start a new day, but breakfast is linked to many health benefits, including weight control and improved performance.

Studies show that eating a healthy breakfast (as opposed to the kind containing doughnuts) can help give you:

* A more nutritionally complete diet, higher in nutrients, vitamins and minerals
* Improved concentration and performance in the classroom or the boardroom
* More strength and endurance to engage in physical activity
* Lower cholesterol levels
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Long-term exposure to the tiny, dirty particles in polluted air seems to increase the risk of deep vein thrombosis, which are blood clots in the thighs or legs, an Italian study finds. It is well-established that air pollution causes myocardial infarction [heart attack] and stroke,” said Dr. Andrea Baccarelli, who led the study while at the Harvard School of Public Health. “This is the first time that anyone has connected air pollution with deep vein thrombosis.”

Previous studies have suggested such a connection, said Baccarelli, who is now an assistant professor of environmental health at the University of Milan. “Several studies in animal models and in humans have shown that particulate matter, inhaled into the lungs, causes inflammation in the lungs,” he said. “The inflammation can expand the cell body, so that the incidence of coagulation is increased.” Read more

Taking a small dose of aspirin every other day seems to reduce the risk of developing asthma among older women. The study, appearing in the online issue of Thorax, essentially mirrors a similar study in which men taking aspirin saw the same reduced risk. But the study authors warned that the research was still not enough to recommend taking aspirin regularly.

“These two studies are not sufficiently strong to make a recommendation for primary prevention of adult-onset asthma,” said Dr. Tobias Kurth, who was involved in both studies.
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An aspirin taken every morning didn’t lower the blood pressure of prehypertensive people, but the evening regimen did, Dr. Ramon C. Hermida reported Wednesday at the American Society of Hypertension annual meeting, in New Orleans. A previous study by Hermida, who is director of bioengineering and chronobiology at the University of Vigo, showed the same beneficial effect of bedtime aspirin for people with moderately high blood pressure. The new report is the first study to show the drug’s benefit — although only when taken at night — with prehypertension, defined as blood pressure just below the 140/90 level. Prehypertension is a known warning sign of future risk of heart disease, stroke and other cardiovascular problems.

Why aspirin should do its good work for blood pressure at night but not in the daytime is not clear, Hermida said. Research indicates that it can slow the production of hormones and other substances in the body that cause clotting, many of which are produced while the body is at rest.
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