The intensity of energy processes in the body depends on the time of day - this is called the circadian rhythm. It is quite logical that the eating schedule is tied to it. In the mid-1980s a special term even appeared - chrononutrition.
In 2009, the first book on chronofeeding was published by Japanese scientists. "The fact that the frequency of eating is important for health has been realized both in the West and in the East. As early as ancient Japanese literature, the importance of breakfast is emphasised," stresses one of the authors, Hiroaka Oda of Nagoya University.
It is well known that people who work at night are more likely to suffer from heart disease and obesity. There is evidence that they have a higher risk of cancer. With the help of chronofeeding, scientists hope to solve the problems of overweight and type 2 diabetes, extremely common in developed countries. Japan finds itself in a paradoxical situation: people are dieting, cutting calories, maintaining physical activity, and the proportion of the population with metabolic disorders is increasing. Perhaps it is important not only what we eat, but also at what time.
Diabetes mellitus is caused by a disturbance in glucose metabolism. There is a direct relationship with circadian rhythms: glucose is better metabolized in the morning and afternoon. Late breakfasts and dinners, which are common in the modern world, disrupt circadian rhythms and increase blood glucose levels. In addition to the onset of diabetes, this contributes to cardiovascular and gastrointestinal diseases. Smoking, stress, hectic pace of life aggravate the situation.
In the risk zone are people with evening chronotype - "owls". According to the authors of the review "Chronovigilance in the treatment of diabetes", those who eat dinner late are more likely to skip breakfast, and this increases the likelihood of type 2 diabetes by 21%. Eating a late dinner disrupts circadian rhythms and one does not get a hunger signal in the morning.
For a long time, it was impossible to formulate a causal relationship between skipping breakfast, duration of overnight fasting, and metabolic rate. Recently published work based on data from a French NutriNet-Santé study (over 103,000 completed questionnaires) has clarified some of these issues.
As researchers from Spain found, from 2009 to 2021, 963 participants in the French survey had diabetes mellitus. And the "owls" among them are much more. Those who snacked or kept a nightly fast for at least 13 hours were less likely to be sick.
Late breakfast increases the likelihood of cardiovascular disease, conclude French experts who analysed the same questionnaires. Almost two thousand diagnoses. And every hour late affects, and dinner after nine o'clock in the evening increases the risk by 28%. A longer nutritional window, i.e. fasting between dinner and breakfast, on the contrary, is beneficial.
"The internal clock - circadian rhythms regulate many physiological and biological processes in the body, including hormonal balance, sleep, body temperature and mental activity," explains nutritionist Maria Menshikova of Teledoctor24.
These rhythms, in turn, are determined by melatonin (sleep hormone), which is produced by the brain, adds biohacking expert Galina Khusainova. The discovery of the molecular mechanisms that control circadian rhythms won a Nobel Prize in 2017.
"In Tibetan medicine, these mechanisms have been known for a long time. Each internal organ is subject to its own schedule. In 24 hours, the phases of activity and dormancy change, which is used in methods of healing and taking medicines at certain times. Following circadian medicine, a healthy person wakes up at five or six in the morning to have breakfast at seven, when the dynamics in the entire gastrointestinal tract begin. The digestive process ends with detoxification in the liver at one to three in the morning (provided we sleep deeply) and cleansing of the rectum at five in the morning," Husainova adds.
According to her, Satchin Panda, a professor at the Salk Institute, has made significant contributions to the study of circadian rhythms of food. He experimentally proved that a 12-hour break in eating restores the body.
The basic rule is to avoid eating late at night, Menshikova says.
"For example, if you have breakfast at seven in the morning and have dinner at eight in the evening, the goal is to reduce this interval from 13 to 11 or 10 hours," the medic specifies.
It is important to observe the feeding schedule. For breakfast, the optimal interval is from 6:30 to 9:30, and the remaining meals can be adjusted. "Night" eating should be avoided and we should eat no more than three or four times during the day.
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