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Smartphone Study Irregular eating makes us fat
Regular meals in a specific time frame can bring health benefits. Scientists have already been able to find this out in studies with animals. The influence of meal time on human health has not been known yet. US researchers have now gained interesting insights into this through a smartphone study and recently published it in the specialist journal "Cell Metabolism".
Are three solid meals a day a relic from earlier times?
Breakfast at seven, lunch at twelve and dinner at 7 pm: In some ways, the meal plan in many families looked like this in earlier times. But today food intake is apparently rarely distributed over three meals within twelve hours. At least in the US - because here the largest part of the population feeds irregularly in a time frame of more than 15 hours a day.
Study showed: Irregular eating makes you fat. Image: nito - fotolia 150 subjects photograph their food every day
Scientists from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla (California) came to this conclusion. The dpa news agency reported that for the first time researchers had been able to gather accurate data on dietary volunteers for their study. This was made possible by the use of smartphones, with which more than 150 volunteers photographed their food every day for three weeks. At the same time, scientists used an app to record the times and places where participants took their meals.
"So far, most nutritional studies asked for breakfast, lunch, supper and snacks," said senior author Satchidananda Panda in a statement from the Salk Institute. By using the photo app, however, it has become possible to obtain information about the actual eating habits of the subjects.
One-third of the daily calorie intake after 6pm
It turned out that more than half of the adult participants ate very irregularly - and that, in principle, throughout the entire waking period. Only a quarter of the daily calorie intake was taken until lunchtime, while one third of the energy was consumed after 18 h. "The context of the images spoke volumes - for example, when meals were taken next to a keyboard, in bed, at the television, on the sidewalk, in the car or while refueling," reports study Shubhroz Gill.
In addition, the researchers were able to gain insights into the dietary habits of the US study participants. According to him, coffee and milk in the morning, alcohol in the evening and tea were drunk throughout the day. In addition, the subjects in the morning often had yogurt, lunch sandwiches and burgers and in the evening often consumed vegetables and ice cream. In addition, photos of chocolate and other sweets were made from 10 o'clock in the morning.
Subjects lose 3.5% of their excess weight after four months
As reported by the Salk Institute, the researchers also selected eight obese participants who would normally eat for more than 14 hours a day. They received an offer to limit their food intake to 10 to 11 hours a day for 16 weeks without having to limit their calorie intake. Every week, the participants received their personal "feedogram", which documented the previous weight loss. After the four months, an interesting result was found, because the subjects had lost on average 3.5% of their overweight and also reported more energy and better sleep.
600 million adults worldwide are affected by obesity
An important insight, because overweight is becoming an ever greater problem. In 2014, over 1.9 billion adults were overweight, including 600 million obesity. Accordingly, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), this represents a "global epidemic" that is rapidly spreading and increasingly affects poor countries. In the United States, 34 percent of all adults are considered overweight, and in Germany the proportion is just under 15 percent. A not to be underestimated risk, because overweight is now considered the most important cause of diabetes, hypertension, strokes and certain cancers.
Changing mealtimes can be risky
Nevertheless, the results of the study should not raise too much hope in the fight against the pounds. "Still, you should not conclude that changing your meal times is the only way to improve your health," said Panda. In addition, such a change could be a health hazard, because "this can also be risky for people with undiagnosed hypoglycaemia," adds the scientist.
"The study is about developing methods and provides a preliminary insight into what and when people are eating," Panda sums up. However, further, larger studies are needed, e.g. Collecting data from shift workers and from different socio-economic groups. Only then could a more complete picture be created and socio-economic differences examined. (No)