Chrononutrition: does the time we eat influence our health?

Have you ever heard of chrononutrition ? This is the term that designates an area of ​​nutrition that studies the relationship between a person’s biological clock and their diet observing the possible impacts on general health and well-being.

According to Andréa Aragão, a clinical nutritionist and member of the Brazilian Nutrition Association (Asbran), the basis of chrononutrition is to observe the frequency of eating, the time and the regularity of meals. “Today, we know that people who follow an eating pattern that concentrates most of their calories consumed during the day have a better health standard, compared to people who eat until late at night,” she states.

This is related to the circadian rhythm of a person, or “biological clock”. This clock regulates and controls a large part of the physiological processes of our body. For example, it is what determines why we feel hungry around lunchtime and sleepy at night. It is also what dictates our body temperature, blood pressure, hormone levels, heart rate, among other factors.

“The human body works according to this internal biological clock, which regulates the body’s activities and physiological processes in a 24-hour cycle. Hormonal and metabolic variations are related to our state of sleep and wakefulness, as well as feelings of hunger, satiety and stress,” explains Aragão.

Therefore, chrononutrition is the “science” that attempts to study how the alignment between diet and circadian rhythm can bring benefits to the functioning of the body and, consequently, to health. “It is still a very new area of ​​study”, says the nutritionist. Below, check out what is already known about the subject.

Benefits of aligning diet and biological clock

According to pediatrician Guilherme Sargentelli, a healthy diet adjusted to a person’s biological clock is associated with several benefits, such as better quality of sleep, greater performance in physical activities, prevention of chronic diseases and a better lifestyle.

“In pediatrics, knowing the best times to eat makes a lot of sense,” says the specialist. “Babies require a routine for satisfactory growth and development. Set feeding times generate not only advantages such as those mentioned above, but also provide a pediatric particularity that is investing in the individual’s overall development for their future life,” he explains.

However, the benefits of chrononutrition are not limited to babies and children. According to Aragão, aligning diet and the biological clock can help in the weight loss process and improve the quality of sleep.

“Food and sleep are interconnected: just as food influences the quality of sleep, lack of sleep can also have an impact on nutrition. People who sleep less than the ideal amount, which varies between six and eight hours per night, may experience hormonal changes that impact feelings of hunger and satiety,” says the nutritionist.

Aragão explains that sleep deprivation can lead to increased food intake, as well as increasing the likelihood of a person choosing more caloric, dense and fatty foods. “When a person sleeps less, the secretion of a hormone called leptin, which makes us feel full, decreases. At the same time, the secretion of a hormone that stimulates hunger, called ghrelin, increases. This combination changes eating behavior, favoring weight gain,” he explains.

Therefore, by aligning diet and circadian rhythm, it is possible to improve the quality of sleep and, consequently, control satiety and maintain a healthy weight. study published in 2019 showed that those who ate dinner close to bedtime had an increased risk of being overweight or obese compared to those who ate dinner earlier. The study was conducted with 872 middle-aged or older American adults.

Additionally, a French study showed that those who eat meals earlier may have a lower risk of developing cardiovascular diseases, such as stroke and heart attack. The risk of type 2 diabetes may also be increased in those who eat their last meal of the day late at night, according to a study published in 2023 in the Journal of Clinical Nutrition. European Journal of Nutrition.

How to set meal times and get the benefits?

Chrononutrition is not a specific diet, but rather an approach to aligning nutrition with the body’s functioning. Therefore, there is no general rule on how to incorporate the practice into your daily routine. This should be done according to the particularities of each person and their routine. Therefore, consulting a health professional is essential.

“Interdisciplinarity is important when approaching the health of any individual, because only by bringing together the expertise of all the different professionals can we offer the best to patients,” explains Sargentelli.

For babies and children

For babies, the ideal routine is six meals a day, balanced between carbohydrates, proteins, fruits, vegetables and truths, according to Eliana Dias, maternal and child consultant and baby sleep specialist. “The more balanced the daily diet, the better the quality of sleep and nighttime fasting time the baby achieves, sleeping through the night by 7 months,” she says.

“A good feeding routine is one in which the baby receives a meal every 2.5 hours and 3 hours between meals, with the last meal being around 7 pm,” he advises. “Making the baby eat too much right before bed can cause restless sleep in the first part of the night because they are still in the process of digestion,” he adds.

For children, adopting a mealtime routine at home is essential to reproducing discipline throughout all stages of childhood.

“Keeping track of your children’s schedules and monitoring the good results of this process is very important. Medical literature has already demonstrated how adequate nutrition for children and adolescents reduces the possibility of highly prevalent chronic diseases, such as obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes,” says Sargentelli.

For adults

According to Aragão, to adopt chrononutrition in your eating routine, it is important to first regulate your sleep schedule and meal times. To do this, establish specific times for each meal and for bedtime.

Nutritionist Cibele Crispim recommends, in an article previously published in CNN that lunch is the main meal of the day, concentrating the largest amount of calorie intake. “It is the time of day when we use up the most energy, when our metabolism is at its peak. It makes a lot of sense that you eat more at the time you use up the most,” he explains. After lunch, it is essential to divide up the other meals, reducing the amount of food eaten as the hours go by.

As for dinner, it is best to have it at least two hours before going to bed. In another article previously published in CNN nutritionist Tatiane do Nascimento, who works at Segmedic, says that the best time to have your last meal of the day is around 7 pm. “This gives us a two to three hour gap to start sleeping,” she says.

All meals should be nutritionally balanced, always including vegetables, fruits, proteins, carbohydrates and fiber in the menu.

*With information from Lucas Rocha

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This content was originally published in Chrononutrition: does the time we eat influence our health? on the CNN Brasil website.

Source: CNN Brasil

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