New Delhi: Your breakfast time and when you eat your last meal of the day may be linked to how long you live, according to a new study conducted on adults in America. Researchers found that the timing of the first and last calories consumed each day is linked with life expectancy.
The study was published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition on 31 July by a team of 12 researchers. It analysed data from 31,044 adults aged 40 and older who participated in the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 1999 and 2018.
For the study, researchers examined when participants consumed their food throughout the day.
They defined the first calorie-containing food or drink consumed after 4 am as the “first meal”, rather than using conventional definitions of breakfast or dinner. Similarly, the final calorie consumed during the day was recorded as the “last meal”. The period between the first and last meals was classified as the eating window.
“Later first meals and earlier or later last meals were associated with higher mortality risks and shorter life expectancy,” the researchers wrote. “These findings suggest that meal timing may be a modifiable behavioural factor associated with mortality risk and life expectancy.”
The researchers then linked participants’ dietary records to mortality data.
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Later meals linked to higher mortality risk
During a median follow-up period of 8.6 years, 7,129 deaths were recorded. The study found that the association between the length of the eating window and cardiovascular mortality risk varied depending on the timing of the first meal.
“At the age of 50 years, the estimated life expectancy was on average 2.46 years short among participants having a first meal after 12:00 noon, and 2.35 years shorter among those having a last meal after midnight compared with reference groups,” the study found.
A pattern also emerged when researchers compared different meal timings. Compared with people who had their first meal between 7 and 8 am, those who had their first meal between 8 and 10 am had a 10% higher risk of death from any cause.
The risk rose to 19% among those who ate their first meal between 10 am and noon and to 29% among those whose first meal was after noon.
What about the last meal?
The timing of the final meal was also associated with mortality risk.
Compared with participants who consumed their last meal between 7 and 8 pm, those who had their final calorie before 7 pm had a 13% higher risk of death from any cause.
The risk rose to 27% among those who consumed their last calorie after midnight. The lowest risk was observed among participants whose final meal was around 8 pm.
Moved down: The researchers also mentioned several other factors that could affect mortality, including age, smoking, physical activity, diet quality, body mass index, energy intake, income, and existing health conditions.
So, the findings show an association, not proof that meal timing itself causes earlier death. Other factors related to eating schedules and overall health could also play a role.
(Edited by Maryam Hassan)