Background There currently are no standard, low-cost, and validated methods to assess the timing of food intake. Methods The concordance between recall based survey questions and food times estimated from multiple daily food records in 249 generally healthy, free-living adults from the SHIFT Study (ClinicalTrials.gov #NCT02997319) was assessed. At baseline, participants were asked: “At what time do you first start and stop eating on weekdays/workdays and weekends/non-workdays?” and “At what time do you have your main meal on weekdays/workdays and weekends/non-workdays?” Participants were then asked to complete up to 14 days of food records noting the start time of each eating occasion. The timing of the first, last, and main (largest % calories) eating occasions, and the midpoint of energy intake were determined from food records. Wilcoxon matched pairs signed rank and Kendall's coefficient of concordance were used to compare differences and determine agreements between the methods for 4 food timing parameters. Results Eating occasions on work and free days showed significant agreements between the two methods, except for the main eating occasion on free days. Significant agreements were generally modest and ranged from 0.16 (work days main eating occasion) to 0.45 (work days first eating occasion). Generally, times based on recall were later than those estimated from food records and the differences in estimated times were smaller on work days compared to free days and smaller for the first compared to the last eating occasion. Main eating occasions from food records alternated between lunch and dinner times, contributing to low concordance with recalled times. Conclusions Modest agreements were found between food times derived from simple, recall based survey questions and food times estimated from multiple daily food records. Single administration of these questions can effectively characterize the overall timing of eating occasions within a population for chrononutrition research purposes. Summary There currently are no standard and low-cost methods to assess the timing of food intake. This study validates simple, recall-based questions that can effectively characterize food timing in free-living populations. Trial Registration: Shift Work, Heredity, Insulin, and Food Timing (SHIFT) Study (ClinicalTrials.gov: # NCT02997319).
The Circadia Study (Circadia) is a novel direct to participant research study investigating the genetics of circadian rhythm disorders. The long-term goals of this study are to better understand the genetics of circadian rhythm disorders, investigate the efficacy and accessibility of an at-home, self-directed DLMO collection, to improve health outcomes in the future for patients with circadian rhythm disorders, and to address the specific needs of the circadian rhythm disorder patient population. In this manuscript, we briefly outline the standard methods of both circadian biology research protocols and circadian rhythm disorder diagnostic procedures. We describe some of the inherent limitations of current circadian research and diagnostic methods, which motivated our development of and informed the design of the Circadia Study. We discuss the main goals of the Circadia Study, and we outline key features of our study design that build upon current study methods and address limitations. Finally, we describe specific aspects of the Circadia Study, including our study population, data collection methods, and standard operating procedures so that others may replicate aspects of the study design. Key words: Circadian rhythms; Circadian rhythm disorders; Advanced Sleep Phase Syndrome; Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome; Non-24 Hour Sleep Wake Disorder; Melatonin; Dim Light Melatonin Onset
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