Eating breakfast and avoiding late-evening snacking sustains lipid oxidation

Abstract

Circadian (daily) regulation of metabolic pathways implies that food may be metabolized differentially over the daily cycle. To test that hypothesis, we monitored the metabolism of older subjects in a whole-room respiratory chamber over two separate 56-h sessions in a random crossover design. In one session, one of the 3 daily meals was presented as breakfast, whereas in the other session, a nutritionally equivalent meal was presented as a lateevening snack. The duration of the overnight fast was the same for both sessions. Whereas the two sessions did not differ in overall energy expenditure, the respiratory exchange ratio (RER) was different during sleep between the two sessions. Unexpectedly, this difference in RER due to daily meal timing was not due to daily differences in physical activity, sleep disruption, or core body temperature (CBT). Rather, we found that the daily timing of nutrient availability coupled with daily/circadian control of metabolism drives a switch in substrate preference such that the late-evening Snack Session resulted in significantly lower lipid oxidation (LO) compared to the Breakfast Session. Therefore, the timing of meals during the day/night cycle affects how ingested food is oxidized or stored in humans, with important implications for optimal eating habits.

Mammalian circadian systems: Organization and modern life challenges

“…In addition, misalignment of endogenous and exogenous cycles, for example during shift work, promotes the development of metabolic morbidities 176 . Recently, it has been demonstrated that, besides lunch and dinner, an additional meal in the late evening, rather than in the morning, attenuates overnight lipid catabolism, 178 potentially counteracting weight loss. In mice, pathological consequences of high‐fat diet, that ismetabolic disruption and obesity, depend on the time of food intake rather than calories consumed 179‐181 …”

Chrononutrition during Pregnancy: A Review on Maternal Night-Time Eating

“…Fatty acids are the main energy source during overnight fasting [35,36]. There is evidence that individuals who engage in night eating have decreased fat oxidation [37][38][39]. Although fat oxidation was found to be downregulated among obese individuals [40] and those who are prone to obesity [41], little is known about whether there is downregulation of fat oxidation during pregnancy, which could contribute to hunger at night.…”

Coupled network of the circadian clocks: a driving force of rhythmic physiology

“…Chronopharmacology that takes into account circadian pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics already plays an important role for a number of medications widely used for treating oncological, metabolic, and respiratory diseases [433,434]. Additionally, the rapidly developing field of chrononutrition emphasizes the importance of meal timing for prevention and treatment of metabolic diseases [432,[435][436][437] (for review, see Ref. [438]).…”