Essential
- Eating earlier in the day could alleviate genetic effects promoting obesity.
- A Spanish study shows that a meal taken an hour later causes significant weight gain in people at risk.
- Adjusting the meals schedule thus becomes a simple and effective strategy to better control its weight.
What if the time you eat weighed as much as you eat? A Spanish study, conducted by the complutense university of Madrid, reveals that dinner early could alleviate the genetic effects predisposing to obesity. A simple strategy that could upset personalized weight loss approaches.
The weight of the internal clock
Research, published in the journal Obesitywas interested in the impact of the meals schedule on people genetically predisposed to obesity. The researchers analyzed the data of some 1,200 overweight or obese adults who followed a 16 -week weight loss program, with long -term follow -up twelve years later.
At the heart of this research: the concept of timera synchronizer of the biological clock which influences metabolic tissues such as the liver or the pancreas. When meal hours change, they can deregulate this internal clock, affecting metabolic rhythms and promoting weight gain. “Internal bad synchronization could contribute to cardiometabolic disorders and obesity”advance the authors in a press release.
Late meal, RMI increasing
The results are eloquent: each delayed meal hour corresponded to an increase of 0.95 kg/m2 of the body mass index (BMI) and to a weight gain of 2.2 % over 12 years. In people with a high genetic risk, the impact was even more marked: an hour’s offset led to an increase of 2.21 kg/m2 of the BMI. However, no significant association was observed in individuals at low genetic risk.
This study opens the way to personalized interventions. “The meal schedule is associated with the maintenance of weight loss and module genetic risk”conclude the researchers. Eating earlier in the day could therefore become a key recommendation for people affected by an obesity of hereditary origin. So, the next time you hesitate between a dinner at 7 p.m. or 9 p.m., think about it: your internal clock will thank you.
