TABLE 3.
Summary of observational studies on obesity, cardiometabolic health, and chrono-nutrition1
| Study (reference) | Study design | Study duration | Sample size, n | Age, y | Main findings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kahleova et al., 2017 (17) | Longitudinal study | 7 y | 50,660 | ≥30 | Consuming vs. skipping breakfast (−0.029; 95% CI: −0.047, −0.012; P-trend ˂ 0.001) and largest meal in morning vs. dinner (−0.038; 95% CI: −0.048, −0.028; P < 0 .001) associated with lower BMI. |
| Ma et al., 2003 (34) | Cross-sectional study | 4 y | 499 | 20–70 | Greater number of eating episodes each day associated with a lower risk of obesity (OR for ≥4 eating episodes vs. ≤3 episodes: 0.55; 95% CI: 0.33, 0.91). Skipping breakfast associated with increased prevalence of obesity (OR = 4.5; 95% CI: 1.57, 12.90). |
| Pot et al., 2014 (12) | Longitudinal study | 19 y | 1786 | 53 | An increased risk of metabolic syndrome was associated with more irregular energy intake during breakfast (OR: 1.34; 95% CI: 0.99, 1.81; P-trend = 0.04) and between meals (OR: 1.36; 1.01, 1.85; P-trend = 0.04). |
| Pot et al., 2016 (35) | Longitudinal study | 7 y | 1786 | 36 and 43 | At age 36 y, subjects with a more irregular intake of energy at lunch (OR: 1.42; 95% CI: 1.05, 1.91) and between meals (OR: 1.35; 95% CI: 1.01, 1.82) had an increased risk of metabolic syndrome 17 y later. |
| At age 43 y, subjects with a more irregular intake at breakfast had an increased risk of metabolic syndrome 10 y later (OR: 1.53; 95% CI: 1.15, 2.04) and increased BMI (OR: 1.66; 95% CI: 1.31, 2.10). | |||||
| Reid et al., 2014 (36) | Cross-sectional study | 7 d | 59 | 19.2–42.8 | Eating frequency (0.44; P ˂ 0.001), last time of meal (0.39; P ˂ 0.81), duration between last meal and sleep onset (0.36; P ˂ 0.001), and duration between dinner and last meal (0.32; P ˂ 0.05) were associated with total caloric intake. |
| Wang et al., 2014 (16) | Cross-sectional study | 3 y | 326 | 21–69 | Eating more of total intake at midday vs. eating more of total intake in evening associated with lower risk of being obese (OR: 2.00; 95% CI: 1.03, 3.89; P ˂ 0.01). |
| Zhang et al., 2018 (37) | Cross-sectional study | 3 mo | 2290 | 29–74 | EF not associated with obesity. |
1EF, eating frequency.