Background:
Small pilot and randomized controlled studies suggest that time-restricted feeding may decrease body weight. However, the role of meal timing and intervals, measured using mobile applications, has not been examined in larger population-based studies. The objective of this study is to evaluate the association between meal intervals and weight trajectories among adults from a population-based clinical cohort.
Methods:
Multi-site prospective cohort study of adults recruited from three health systems. Over the 6-month study period, 547 participants downloaded and used the Daily24 mobile application to record the timing of meals and sleep for at least one day. Intervals were calculated as the average of all available daily entries for each participant. We obtained information on weight and comorbidities at each outpatient visit from electronic health records available for up to 10 years prior to until 10 months after baseline. We used mixed linear regression to model weight trajectories.
Results:
The mean (SD) baseline (at consent) age was 51.1 (15.0) years and body mass index (BMI) 30.8 (7.8) kg/m
2
; 77.9% were women and 77.5% were White. Average time in the cohort was 5.9 years prior to and 0.3 years after baseline. The mean interval from first to last meal was 11.5 (2.3) hours. The associations between meal intervals and weight trajectories are shown in the
Table
. The number of meals per day was positively associated with weight change before baseline, and number of snacks and drinks per day was inversely associated with weight change after baseline. Each additional occasion of snacks and drinks was associated with a 3.20 kg weight decrease (95% CI 1.41 to 4.99). None of the other associations were statistically significant.
Conclusions:
Number of daily meals was positively associated with weight change in previous periods, while the number of daily snacks and drinks was inversely associated with weight trajectory. The intervals from first to last meal was not associated with weight change.
The association between adverse life events and body weight change: results of a prospective cohort study
