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​Chrono-nutrition is an emerging field that explores the relationship between the timing of eating, circadian rhythms, and metabolic health. Aligning food intake with periods of the day when your metabolic processes are optimized may help improve metabolic health. Under normal circumstances, food intake is driven by the day/night cycle, reinforcing our natural rhythms. However, how and when we eat in modern society has changed dramatically compared to even a hundred years ago. Irregular or erratic meal patterns, late-night eating, increased frequency of meals and snacks, and grazing may all contribute to metabolic problems of the 21st century.

Let's see how Chrono-nutrition can be used therapeutically and provide health benefits to anyone.

Circadian cycle and internal clocks

The daily light/dark cycle sends potent signals to most living things on our planet. The human brain has a 'master clock' that controls the circadian system. In addition, virtually all cells and tissues of the body perform molecular clock activity. This network of internal clocks has rhythmic control over almost every aspect of our biology, from sleeping and eating cycles to cellular rhythms in gene expression and energy metabolism. Circadian rhythms regulate multiple aspects of metabolic physiology, such as hormone secretion, core body temperature, and resting metabolic rate. In return, our behavior, specifically our eating and sleeping patterns, can support or undermine our internal clock system.

Microbiology is fascinating, and we can learn a lot from studies performed in a petri dish or on animals. However, we must combine microbiology with physiology and behavioral patterns to make conclusions relevant to human health. Epidemiological studies can shed some light, but only establish an association between behaviors and health outcomes, not the causation.

Epidemiological studies of eating patterns

It's challenging to capture the interactions between food intake, clock time, and biological time. The study of eating patterns is complicated because of huge variations between societies, within societies, and even within a person. Here are some findings I'd like to highlight:

• Eating your biggest meal of the day before 3-4 pm positively affects weight loss compared with eating your biggest meal at dinner.
• Eating less frequently, 1-3 meals a day, not snacking, and eating the largest meal earlier in the day may prevent long-term weight gain.
• Your natural preference for eating (and sleeping) at a particular time of day can reflect your internal biological time or chronotype, think of Owls and Starks. Eating breakfast might support your metabolic health if you are a morning chronotype. However, if you are an evening chronotype, eating breakfast provides no protection or benefit to your metabolism. Eating a heavier dinner poses a much greater risk for obesity for the evening chronotypes, but not for the morning ones.
• In the US, the average daily eating window is 14 hours and 45 minutes, with a tendency towards consuming more food in the late afternoon and evening, which may predispose to obesity.
• Extending the meal duration, for example, grazing while working, has an adverse effect on metabolism and blood sugar regulation.

In summary

The timing of our meals plays a role in our weight and metabolic health. Here is what you want to remember:

• Eat less frequently and avoid snacking.
• Reduce the window of time when you eat and extend your overnight fast.
• Avoid grazing, eat your meal, and be done with eating.
• Avoid loading up on food at dinner or close to bedtime. Eat your biggest meal of the day before 3-4 pm.

I'll be in touch in two weeks, take care!

Olga