Did you know, it isn’t just what we eat that matters, it is also the timing.
There is a growing appreciation amongst researchers that the duration over which food is eaten during a day has an impact on our health. This is called Chrononutrition.
What is Chrononutrition?
Chrononutrition looks at food eaten in coordination with the body’s daily circadian rhythms, also known as our body clock.
Our body clock helps regulate when to wake, go to sleep, digest food, and many more bodily processes. This is often orchestrated by the brain, the master circadian clock that can be found in most of our body’s cells.
Whilst light is the main controller of the circadian clocks, food intake is also a powerful influence.
Why is food intake influential?
When we eat food the body initiates a hormonal response which has various glands in the body secreting various hormones some which start off the digestion process. Digestion is quite a complex, staged process that involves numerous organs of the body working together, secreting chemicals at the right time, a little like an orchestra. Some research is showing that by eating at times our body is programmed to do certain metabolic activities, such as digesting food, we influence these processes for the benefit of our health.
For example, insulin sensitivity, which influences blood sugar control, may improve and therefore could help reduce the risk of health conditions such as diabetes.
How do I eat in sync with my body clock and what benefit will it have?
Eating in sync with your body clock generally means not eating during the night or late at night when eating is not expected by the body. Research also suggests eating over a 10 hour time period, rather than 12-14 hours for health beenfits. For many of us that might mean shifting breakfast to a little later and the evening meal earlier e.g 8am breakfast and 6pm evening meal.
When feeding occurs at regular, anticipated times, the circadian clock helps keep things stable in the body. When feeding occurs randomly, feedback to the circadian clock changes the anticipated eating times for subsequent days to the new times. This disruption can impact blood sugar control and insulin sensitivity, which may have a negative effect on our health. By moving your evening meal earlier to reduce the time period you eat over you may reduce your night time blood glucose levels.
How is this different to fasting regimes?
Time Restricted Eating or Chrononutrition, as research calls it, is not the same as intermittent fasting and other fasting regimes. Time restricted eating is just changing the length of time you are eating whilst eating the same amount and type of food you usually would whilst intermittent fasting in general looks at reducing energy intake, often with a meal missed due to shortening the window of eating.
How does Chrononutrition work for shift workers?
Shift workers can be awake at times the body would expect to be asleep. If eating at a time when your body isn’t expecting it it can be linked to impaired metabolic function and subsequently health issues. How can we reduce this risk whilst still fueling a shift worker?
Worksafe Queensland suggests shift workers eat:
- a small snack before bed so you aren’t woken by hunger
- during the night, keep meals or snacks small and more protein based if eating at all. Protein foods include eggs, milk, yoghurt, legumes,nuts, seeds, lean meats and fish.
- Keep hydrated with water, avoiding sugary drinks e.g tuna salad, tub of yoghurt, handful of nuts, can of beans.
- Avoid caffeine 6 hours before sleeping
- Eat lunch when you wake up
- A small dinner early in the shift
Small snacks might be needed for some people to keep them alert, individuals' needs will be different. This tries to keep the main meals closer to daylight hours when the body clock is expecting food.
If a roster allows, keeping your sleep cycle fairly regular allows you to keep meals fairly regular too.
To wrap up
Chrononutrition research currently recommends we are best to eat dinner earlier, particularly in early sleepers, with our total food intake kept approximately to a 10 hour period for the benefit of our long term health.
Reviewed by the healthylife Advisory Board August 2023
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