Why your meal times are important

Chrononutrition is coming back to the forefront. What time should you eat to lose weight? Should you have dinner before 8 p.m.? And what does science say about the link between meal times and cardiovascular health?

What are the preferred meal times to lose weight?

Weight loss: it’s better to eat more at lunch than at dinner

Changing meal times, without changing the contents of the plate, could promote weight loss. Several studies have already shown the beneficial effects that changing meal times can have on weight loss, particularly in increasing the duration of night fastingby eating a little earlier in the evening and a little later breakfast.

A study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition compared 80 overweight or obese women (BMI between 27 and 35), all subjected to the same total caloric intake, but with a different distribution throughout the day (1). Here, it is therefore not a question of the composition of meals, but rather of calorie distribution.

Result: those who took their biggest meal at lunch lost on average 1.5 kg more than those who concentrated their calories at dinner. After 12 weeks, the “main meal in the evening” group had lost 4.35 kg, compared to 5.85 kg for the “main meal at midday” group. The latter also presented better insulin sensitivity.

Conclusion : To control your weight, it is better eat more at lunch And lighten the dinner.

Cardiovascular risk: what time should you eat in the evening?

Dinner time would also influence the cardiovascular risk.

Researchers from Sorbonne Paris Nord, Inserm and the Barcelona Global Health Institute analyzed the habits of more than 100,000 participants to the cohort NutriNet-Santé followed between 2009 and 2022. They wanted to know the associations between meal times and cardiovascular disease.

Their conclusions are as follows:

• people who eat late — both their first and last meal — present a increased cardiovascular risk;
• For example, have breakfast at 9 a.m. instead of 8 a.m. would increase this risk of 6% ;
• And dinner after 9 p.m. would increase by 28% the risk of cerebrovascular diseasecompared to a last food intake before 8 p.m., especially in women (2).

Breakfast time, a health indicator among seniors

A study by Mass General Brigham (Boston) of 2,945 adults followed for 20 years reveals that, with age, meal times tend to shift: breakfast and dinner become later. However, eating breakfast later is associated with depression, fatigue, oral and dental problems and an increased risk of death (5). As a result, researchers suggest monitoring these schedule changes as markers of older adults’ overall health. Later meal times may be due to problems sleeping and/or preparing meals.

The ideal time for dinner would therefore be before 8 p.m. in the evening to limit your risk of cardiovascular disease. However, our current lifestyle may have led to delaying eating the evening meal (below).

What time do the French eat?

Dinner time in France

In France, we eat in the evening generally between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. According to an INSEE study, dinner time has shifted a little, to later hours, in recent decades (3).

Distribution of eating time during the day in 1986 and 2010. Source: INSEE

Meal times elsewhere in the world

A 2019 European study on 36,000 people in ten countries highlighted a north-south gradient for meal times (4).

• Southern countries (Spain, Italy, France) eat latercompared to the countries of Central and Northern Europe,
• but they concentrate more energy intake at the start of the dayunlike northern countries where meals are more spread out.

In China, we dine earlier than in France; in Mexico later. Eating habits therefore vary greatly depending on cultures.

Understanding chrononutrition: eating in accordance with your biological clock

OUR internal biological clockhoused in the hypothalamus, regulates circadian rhythms over 24 hours: sleep, hormonal secretions, appetite, digestion. Its neurons have rhythmic electrical activity, with a cycle close to 24 hours, modulated by light.

The synthesis of melatoninwhich is made from the amino acid tryptophan, takes place in the dark, at night. Melatonin levels are highest between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. Melatonin likely plays an important role in metabolism. It would promote the transformation of stored fat into energy.

When these rhythms are disrupted (night work, late dinner, lack of sleep), this leads to problems:

• mood, such as depressive symptoms;
• regulating appetite;
• sleep.

Respect the body clock is therefore as essential as choose a quality diet.

In practice: how to adapt your meals to your chronobiology

Here are some benchmarks inspired by the principles of chrononutrition.

• Breakfast : favor a meal fat and protein (eggs, avocado, yogurt). In the morning, insulin is less available to metabolize sugars.
• Lunch : to make the main mealbalanced and complete, to avoid cravings and snacking in the afternoon.
• To taste : bet on carbohydrate and protein foods (nuts, seeds, fruits) to stabilize the natural insulin peak which occurs between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m.
• Dinner : light, ideally vegetarianbased on vegetables and legumestaken before 8 p.m..
• Drinks : limit tea and coffee after 5 p.m.because kidney activity decreases.
• Practice intermittent fasting (increase the time you night fasting by eating earlier in the evening and later at breakfast for example) to increase detox time.

Also read: What if you skipped breakfast?

How long to digest before sleeping?

Regarding bedtime, Shawn Stevenson, author of I’m learning to sleep betteradviseswait 90 minutes after a meal before going to sleep. “If you really need to eat something before bed, choose a food high in healthy fats and low in carbohydrates to help your blood sugar levels stay stable,” he advises. As seen above, eating late at night is not good for your figure…

In summary

Eating earlier, especially in the evening, is not only a question of your figure: it is also a health strategy.
Our biological clocks need regularity: listening to their rhythm means improving its metabolismher sleep and his cardiovascular system.