Skipping breakfast can increase your risk of a heart attack or fatal coronary heart disease by as much as 27 per cent, a new study has found.

The study suggested that men who reported not eating breakfast were younger than those who did, and were more likely to be smokers, employed full time, unmarried, less physically active and drank more alcohol.

Late-night snacks were found to be even worse for heart health than skipping breakfast in the morning, with the small number of men who reported eating after going to bed having a 55 per cent higher chance of heart disease.

Regularly skipping breakfast put people at high risk of a number of conditions `such as high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol` which can lead to heart disease, said the lead author of the report, Dr Leah Cahill, from the School of Public Health at Harvard.

Men who reported eating breakfast, ate on average one more time per day than those who skipped breakfast, implying that those who abstained from breakfast were not eating additional make-up meals later in the day.

Although there was some overlap between those who skipped breakfast and those who ate late at night, 76 percent of late-night eaters also ate breakfast, researchers said.

According to researchers, while the current study group was composed of men who were of 97 percent white European descent, the results should also apply to women and other ethnic groups, but this should be tested in additional studies.

BDST: 1347 HRS, FEB-26, 2014