Eveningness is associated with skipping breakfast and poor nutritional intake in Brazilian undergraduate students

Abstract

Some studies have proposed that self-reported eveningness, which reflects the preference of performing activities in the evening, may harm nutritional health and influence the eating behavior and nutritional status of individuals. However, the relationship between these variables (eveningness and nutritional status) and the consumption of breakfast, which is currently considered a marker of health, has been insufficiently explored by studies. The aim of this study was to investigate, in undergraduate students, the association between diurnal preference, being overweight, and food consumption (with special focus on breakfast). The study included 721 undergraduate students from a Brazilian public university. Dietary intake was assessed by 24-hour food recall, and the usual time for breakfast was identified. Body weight, height, and waist circumference were measured by trained researchers. Diurnal preference was determined by the Horne and Ostberg questionnaire validated for the Brazilian population, and the participants were classified into three categories: evening (coefficient: 16-41), intermediate type (coefficient: 42-58) or morning type (coefficient: 59-86). The prevalence of skipping breakfast was higher among the evening types (p = 0.02), when compared with morning and intermediate types. A negative association between the diurnal preference coefficient and total caloric (coefficient -0.25, p = 0.007, r adjusted = 0.12), carbohydrate (coefficient -0.19, p = -0.04, r adjusted = 0.04) and lipid intake (coefficient -0.18, p = 0.04, r adjusted = 0.05) was also found in the breakfast skippers but not in breakfast eaters. In other words, breakfast skippers with diurnal preference values indicative of eveningness consumed more calories, carbohydrates and fats. Evening types presented significant odds of skipping breakfast (OR = 1.7, CI = 1.1-2.9, p = 0.02) when compared with morning and intermediate chronotypes. We conclude that eveningness is associated with skipping breakfast and a higher consumption of calories, carbohydrates and fats in breakfast skippers. These eating behaviors may predispose these individuals to being overweight.

Association between Breakfast Consumption and Depressive Symptoms among Chinese College Students: A Cross-Sectional and Prospective Cohort Study

“…In addition, daily routines could also mediate the association between skipping breakfast and an increased risk of depressive symptoms. Previous studies have shown that individuals with the skipping-breakfast habit also have other health-related behaviors, including internet addiction [35], a lower physical activity level [53], and evening-type preferences [54]. Interestingly, internet addiction [55], lower physical activity level [56], and evening-type preferences [57] have been suggested to increase the risk of depressive symptoms.…”

Chronotype and its association with lifestyle, health-related quality of life and academic performance among Japanese nursing students: A cross-sectional study

“…The present study also revealed an association between skipping meals and chronotype. Many previous studies have reported an association between skipping breakfast and evening type (27,44,45). Skipping breakfast is unhealthy eating behavior which contributes to metabolic disorders including obesity and diabetes (46,47).…”

Associação entre cronotipo, food craving e ganho ponderal na gestação

“…The results of the present study suggest that evening cronotype can be one of the factors which can lead to excessive pregnancy weight gain. In non-pregnant women, a higher weight and BMI have been associated with as worse healthier indicators in evening people (Anothaisintawee et al, 2018) such as metabolic syndrome (Yu et al, 2015) and more risk to heart diseases (Yu et al, 2015), as well as worse feeding behavior (Teixeira et al, 2018). These data could contribute to explain the association between weight gain during early pregnant period and chronotype of these women in our study.…”

“…Pesquisas realizadas nos últimos anos no âmbito da saúde e nutrição vêm sinalizando a participação dos ritmos biológicos na sincronização do comportamento alimentar de seres humanos (GOLOMBEK & ROSENSTEIN, 2010). Nessa linha, a associação entre o cronotipo e o comportamento alimentar tem sido abordado em alguns estudos (ROßBACH et al, 2017;PATTERSON et al, 2016;, que mostram que a vespertinidade parece influenciar negativamente os hábitos alimentares (MOTA et al, 2016;SILVA et al, 2016) e o estado nutricional (TEIXEIRA et al, 2018), associando-se ao maior consumo de alimentos doces, alimentos ricos em colesterol (MOTA et al, 2016) e maior quantidade de calorias no período da noite (MUÑOZ et al, 2016).…”

“…The association between chronotype and feeding behaviour has been addressed by some studies (Roßbach et al, 2017;Patterson et al, 2016;. In general, these evidences have shown that chronotype seems to influence the food intake pattern (Teixeira et al, 2018;Mota et al, 2016;Silva et al, 2016;Reutrakul et al, 2014), since evening individuals tend to eat larger amounts of sweets, cholesterol (Mota et al, 2016), and energy at night (Muñoz et al, 2016). However, studies in this area are scarce and were conducted with restricted groups.…”