Time-related eating patterns and chronotype are associated with diet quality in pregnant women

Abstract

Animal studies strongly suggest that timed feeding can have beneficial physiological effects, including protection against the obesogenic and metabolic consequences of a high-fat diet. However, the relationship between variables related to the timing of eating and diet quality in pregnancy women, which is considered as a period of nutritional vulnerability, is still poorly described in the literature. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the associations between time-related eating patterns and chronotype with diet quality of pregnant women. This cross-sectional study was conducted with 100 pregnant women in the first gestational trimester (≤12 weeks of gestation). The information regarding food intake was obtained by three 24-Hour Dietary Recall (24HR). Time-related eating patterns, i.e., the interval between the first and the last meal (eating duration), nightly fasting, time of the first and last meals, and number of meals eating on a day were determined. Chronotype was derived using the mid-sleep time on free days on weekends, with a further correction for calculated sleep debt. Diet quality was evaluated using the Brazilian Healthy Eating Index-Revised (BHEI-R), validated for the Brazilian population. Linear regression modeling analyses adjusted for confounders were used to investigate the association between time-related eating patterns and chronotype with diet quality. The BHEI-R total score was negatively associated with time of the first meal (β = -0.355; p = 0.002; r adjusted = 0.141), and positively associated with eating duration (β = 0.262; p = 0.024; r adjusted = 0.086) and number of meals (β = 0.273; p = 0.019; r adjusted = 0.091). In addition, the score of total fruit component was negatively associated with chronotype (β = -0.236; p = 0.033; r adjusted = 0.078), time of the first meal (β = -0.393; p = 0.001; r adjusted = 0.171), and positively associated with eating duration (β = 0.259; p = 0.022; r adjusted = 0.087) and number of meals (β = 0.376; p = 0.001; r adjusted = 0.159). The score for whole fruit component was negatively associated with time of the first meal (β = -0.388; p = 0.001; r adjusted = 0.152), and positively associated with number of meals (β = 0.403; p = 0.001; r adjusted = 0.164). A longer eating duration, earlier time of the first meal, higher number of meals and morningness tendency are associated with a better diet quality in the first gestational trimester - higher scores of the total BHEI-R and/or fruit components. We suggest that nutritional guidelines should consider time-related eating patterns and chronotype to ensure good diet quality of pregnant women since the beginning of gestation, contributing on prevention of metabolic-nutritional complications.

Associations between the Chronotypes and Eating Habits of Hong Kong School-Aged Children

“…It is possible that evening-type children experience circadian misalignment to eating an early breakfast on school days, contributing to less appetite in the early morning and consequently to skipping breakfast or to consuming small portions at breakfast. Individuals with different chronotypes were also found to have unique timing-related eating patterns [48,49]. The literature provides evidence for this assumption that the food intake behaviors of evening-type people shift towards later mealtimes in accordance with their later circadian preference compared with morning-type individuals [46,47,50].…”

Effects of timing of food intake on eating patterns, diet quality and weight gain during pregnancy

“…Among the few studies conducted with non-pregnant individuals (7) and pregnant women (15) , the timing of food intake has been associated with eating patterns and diet quality, respectively. A recent study from our group with first trimester pregnant women found that the timing of the first eating episode had a negative association on diet quality and fruit consumption, but no association was found between the timing of the last eating episode and diet quality (15) . The present study found similar results and now evidences these results in a prospective way, throughout pregnancy.…”

“…In this sense, studies have also shown that the timing of eating episodes has a strong association with chronotype, which is defined as the preference to perform activities at certain times of the day (7,17) . A recent study published by our group found that earlier times for the first meal, a higher number of eating episodes, longer eating duration and a morning chronotype tendency, which has been extensively associated with early eating habits (18) , were associated with better diet quality in the first gestational trimester (15) .…”

“…Meal timing seems to influence eating patterns, diet quality (7,15) and weight regulation (7,16) . A study of an adult population showed that higher energy intake in the evening compared with the morning meals seems to influence the increase in BMI (16) .…”

Associação entre cronotipo, food craving e ganho ponderal na gestação

“…Pregnant were asked to report their usual bedtimes and waking times on weekdays and weekends, as described previously by Gontijo et al (2018). Chronotype was assessed by mid-sleep time (MSF) on weekends with a correction for calculated sleep debtwhich was assessed by the difference between average sleep duration at the weekends and the average sleep in the weekdays (Roenneberg et al, 2007).…”