A decades-long UK study reveals that later breakfasts successful older adults are tied to poorer wellness and shorter survival, making repast timing a elemental yet powerful marker of aging well.
Study: Meal timing trajectories successful older adults and their associations pinch morbidity, familial profiles, and mortality. Image credit: Lizelle Lotter/Shutterstock.com
A caller study successful Communications Medicine analyzed patterns of self-reported repast timing successful nan older population. It assessed its associations pinch morbidity, familial profiles, and all-cause mortality.
The effect of chrononutrition connected health
Chrononutrition is nan study of nan timing of eating, which has emerged arsenic a modifiable consequence facet for adverse wellness outcomes. Numerous animal and quality studies person demonstrated nan value of due repast timing for achieving amended wellness benefits. A caller rodent-based investigation has indicated that consuming high-fat meals during atypical periods (i.e., inactive phases), compared to nan emblematic progressive phase, leads to greater fat wide accumulation.
Late eating has been linked to metabolic changes that beforehand assemblage fat accumulation and raise assemblage wide scale (BMI). Because repast timings awesome nan body’s soul clocks successful metabolic tissues, shifting eating schedules tin disrupt circadian rhythms and create soul misalignment.
Although precocious eating among nighttime displacement workers has been recovered to summation nan consequence of disease, fewer studies person assessed nan effect of chrononutrition successful older adults. Typically, older adults are susceptible to mistimed nutrient depletion owed to multimorbidity and behavioral changes associated pinch aging. The superior factors influencing repast timing are chronotype, medicine use, genetics, and slumber disorders. A cautiously designed repast timing could support patient aging.
About nan study
The existent study performed longitudinal study utilizing information from nan University of Manchester Longitudinal Study of Cognition successful Normal Healthy Old Age (UMLCHA) cohort to analyse whether repast timings power wellness successful nan older population.
UMLCHA recruited 6,375 individuals aged betwixt 42 and 94 from Newcastle and Manchester, UK, from 1983 to 1993. All participants were followed till 2017. Participants provided accusation astir their wellness status, lifestyle, and sociodemographic accusation done questionnaires. A subset of participants besides provided humor samples betwixt 1999 and 2004.
In a cohort-specific survey, participants were asked to complete nan Personal Details Questionnaire, successful which they provided accusation astir their repast and slumber habits, marital status, smoking habits, occupation, intoxicant consumption, and health. They were subjected to nan questionnaire astatine 5 clip points, including baseline (1983), 2nd management (between 1984 and 1996), 3rd management (between 2001 and 2003), 4th management (2007), and final/fifth management (2010).
Linear mixed-effects models were utilized to measure nan changes successful repast timing variables pinch age. Model 1 was adjusted for activity arsenic a time-independent variable. In contrast, Model 2 included further time-independent variables (e.g., socioeconomic position and acquisition level) and time-dependent variables (e.g., smoking status, marital status, employment status, and slumber duration).
Study findings
A full of 2,945 community-dwelling older adults were included. The mean property of nan participants astatine baseline was 64 years, 71.5% were female, and 83.3% were unemployed. According to nan questionnaire, nan mean breakfast, lunch, and meal times were 8:22 AM, 12:38 PM, and 5:51 PM, respectively.
In general, participants had their meal 31 minutes aft waking up and had meal 5.38 hours earlier going to bed. Model 1 associated older property pinch later timing for breakfast. Each further decade of aging was associated pinch a hold successful meal by 7.94 minutes.
Model 2 revealed that each further decade was associated pinch a meal hold of 2.89 minutes. An expanding property was besides associated pinch a later midpoint of eating, shorter intervals from meal to bed, and a shorter regular eating window. Latent people study of repast timing trajectories highlighted variability successful age-related changes successful repast timing among older adults.
A two-cluster exemplary was recovered to beryllium much promising for capturing nan chopped patterns of repast timing. This exemplary indicated important differences successful repast timing trajectories. For instance, early eating subgroups had consistently exhibited earlier mealtimes pinch aging, whereas nan precocious eating subgroup exhibited later mealtimes pinch aging. Ten-year endurance rates were 89.5% successful nan early group versus 86.7% successful nan precocious eating group.
The Cornell Medical Index (CMI) revealed a important relation betwixt repast timings and beingness and psychological unwellness symptoms. Later meal timing and a shorter regular eating model were associated pinch fatigue. In addition, oral wellness problems were linked to earlier meal timing and a shorter regular eating window. Participants pinch a later meal timing, a shorter eating window, and a later eating midpoint were much susceptible to hypochondria and multimorbidity, depression, and anxiety.
Linear mixed-effects models revealed that longer repast mentation times were associated pinch a later dinner, a later eating midpoint, and a longer interval betwixt waking up and breakfast. Confirmatory analyses revealed an relation betwixt polygenic scores for evening chronotype pinch later slumber midpoint and obesity pinch higher BMI. However, obesity-linked variants did not foretell repast timing, whereas evening chronotype variants were associated pinch later meals.
A mixed-effects Cox regression exemplary revealed that each further hr of later meal timing was linked pinch a 1.11 summation successful likelihood of mortality successful exemplary 1, and a 1.08 summation successful exemplary 2. No important mortality associations were recovered for luncheon aliases meal timings.
Conclusions
The existent study emphasized nan value of repast timings successful nan older population. A hold successful meal timing was associated pinch multimorbidity, accrued beingness and psychological illness, evening chronotype familial profiles, and a higher mortality risk.
The authors accent that this is an observational study, truthful unwellness whitethorn thrust later repast timing alternatively than nan different measurement around. Therefore, due repast timings must beryllium encouraged to beforehand patient aging, pinch meal timing emerging arsenic a peculiarly important marker.
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Journal reference:
- Dashti, H. S. et al. (2025) Meal timing trajectories successful older adults and their associations pinch morbidity, familial profiles, and mortality. Communications Medicine. 5(1), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43856-025-01035-x. https://www.nature.com/articles/s43856-025-01035-x