Chrono‐nutrition: From molecular and neuronal mechanisms to human epidemiology and timed feeding patterns

Abstract

The circadian timing system governs daily biological rhythms, synchronising physiology and behaviour to the temporal world. External time cues, including the light‐dark cycle and timing of food intake, provide daily signals for entrainment of the central, master circadian clock in the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN), and of metabolic rhythms in peripheral tissues, respectively. Chrono‐nutrition is an emerging field building on the relationship between temporal eating patterns, circadian rhythms, and metabolic health. Evidence from both animal and human research demonstrates adverse metabolic consequences of circadian disruption. Conversely, a growing body of evidence indicates that aligning food intake to periods of the day when circadian rhythms in metabolic processes are optimised for nutrition may be effective for improving metabolic health. Circadian rhythms in glucose and lipid homeostasis, insulin responsiveness and sensitivity, energy expenditure, and postprandial metabolism, may favour eating patterns characterised by earlier temporal distribution of energy. This review details the molecular basis for metabolic clocks, the regulation of feeding behaviour, and the evidence for meal timing as an entraining signal for the circadian system in animal models. The epidemiology of temporal eating patterns in humans is examined, together with evidence from human intervention studies investigating the metabolic effects of morning compared to evening energy intake, and emerging chrono‐nutrition interventions such as time‐restricted feeding. Chrono‐nutrition may have therapeutic application for individuals with and at‐risk of metabolic disease and convey health benefits within the general population.

Redox changes in obesity, metabolic syndrome, and diabetes

“…Circadian rhythms govern ~24h rhythms in daily human and mammalian physiology, metabolism, and behavior both in health and disease, including the daily rhythms in feeding activity, hormone production, and glucose metabolism [ 152 ]. The circadian timing coordinates temporal variation in biochemical processes with changes in nutrient intake in order to optimize energy balance and maintain metabolic homeostasis [ 153 ].…”

Chrono‐nutrition – an emerging, modifiable risk factor for chronic disease?

“…Over the past decade, nutrition researchers have incorporated research of biological temporal rhythms, chrono‐biology, into nutrition research, and this novel area of nutrition research is called chrono‐nutrition (Garaulet & Gómez‐Abellán, 2014; St‐Onge et al, 2017; Tahara & Shibata, 2013). Chrono‐nutrition includes research into the distribution of energy intake, meal frequency and regularity, the duration of eating and fasting periods, and the relative importance of these factors for metabolic health and chronic disease risk (Flanagan et al, 2020; Pot et al, 2016). This Virtual Issue brings together papers recently published in Nutrition Bulletin discussing different aspects of chrono‐nutrition, including sleep, breakfast consumption and time‐restricted feeding (Figure 1) (Clayton et al, 2020; Darzi et al, 2017; Edinburgh et al, 2017; Gibson, 2018; Gibson‐Moore & Chambers, 2019; Lynch et al, 2021; Ruddick‐Collins et al, 2018).…”

How to time the time ‐ A preface to the special issue Circadian Rhythms in the Brain

“…The significance of chrono‐nutrition, principal concepts and consequences for human health that arise from aberrant eating patterns are being reviewed by Flanagan and co‐workers (Flanagan et al. 2020).…”

“…Metabolic dysfunction on a systemic level leads to disease and death in the long run, whereas maintaining metabolic health by, for example, meal timing may be beneficial against dietary‐induced metabolic diseases such as diabetes or obesity (Flanagan et al. 2020; Kessler & Pivovarova‐Ramich, 2019). However, even a lifestyle in compliance with the concepts of chrono‐nutrition can at best delay the process of aging.…”