New perspectives on chrononutrition

ABSTRACT

Chrononutrition proposes that nutrients or meal timing per se could affect the circadian clock system, and that the desynchronization of biological rhythms could negatively influence timing and food choices. Research in this area has suggested that mealtime, energy distribution throughout the day, nocturnal eating and food ingestion frequency may influence nutrient metabolism, being associated with metabolic and nutritional diseases. Given the growing amount of evidence linking the circadian clock system to metabolic and nutritional health, circadian organization seems to be clinically important in the understanding of diseases such as obesity and, maybe, in the nutritional treatment of them. Thus, chrononutrition emerges as an important tool to enhance the metabolic and nutritional health of particular population groups (e.g. shift workers) and in the treatment of diseases such as obesity. For this reason, the area needs to be further explored.

KEYWORDS:

• Circadian rhythms
• chrononutrition
• meal timing
• food frequency
• food timing
• eating occasions

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and drafting of this paper.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the FAPEMIG.