Food-Jetlag: as important As solid food are times, in order not to increase

Sleep in, late Breakfast, in the evening, long stay awake, and when going out and socialising a little thing like snacking.

For many people, the daily routine is different at weekends from the other days of the week – the meal times will move accordingly, often very strongly.

This temporal difference between the regular meals for the work days and the weekend has taken a Spanish team of researchers now under the microscope, a matching term is found: “food-Jetlag”.

Metabolic processes change in the course of the day

It has long been known that the calories are metabolized to the time of day by the body differently, and thus even an increase in weight can facilitate.

“This difference has to do with our biological clock,” explains Maria Izquierdo Pulido of the University of Barcelona.

“This organized for our body, so that he understands the during the day, calories consumed and reacted.” Late in the evening and at night, the body prepares in contrast to the almost of the time while sleeping.

“If the food is now taken to an unusual hour, can interact with the nutrients on the molecular machinery and metabolic function of the body to change,” gives Pulido to keep in mind.

Meal times have an impact on the BMI

Since the human body is accustomed to regular meal times, can be a “dinner-jet lag” noticeable consequences – especially with regard to the weight of the body.

How this is expressed, has studied the Spanish team of researchers in the study, which appeared in the journal ‘Nutrients’, in more detail.

The researchers compared the eating times of more than 1,100 young adults during the week with the weekend and analyzed the relationship to BMI.

Individual differences such as diet, physical activity, and sleep times were calculated by the researchers also.

A higher BMI in the case of heavy displacement

The researchers found that the Breakfast-jet lag was an average of two hours a shift is most pronounced.

Lunch was consumed on the weekend, on average, about an hour later and the dinner was postponed half an hour, very low.

However, the results show very clearly that subjects who ate on the weekend at other times than during the week, had a higher BMI and therefore a higher risk for Obesity.

Whose food time shifts by an hour, no need to worry, however is the same. Only a difference of more than 3.5 hours, the BMI of the subjects increased significantly.

Weight loss: Regular intake of food is essential

“Our biological clock works like a machine that gets the same physiological and metabolic reaction to every day of the week at the same time of the day,” explains Dr. Cambras, one of the authors of the study.

Fixed eating and sleeping times to support the body in its function, for example, the hormone production.

“People with a greater change in your schedule therefore have a higher risk for obesity,” says Dr. Cambras.

The authors emphasize that the health and well-being was largely dependent on the regularity of the food aufnaheme.

Who already suffer Overweight, could try to set meal times in order to get the body weight under better control.

Sources

• Fernanda Zerón-Rugerio, M., et al. (2020): Eating Jet Lag: A Marker of the Variability in Meal Timing and Its Association with Body Mass Index and 27.05.2020 https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/11/12/2980
• University of Barcelona (2020): UB study links weekend eating jet lag to obesity, retrieved on 27.05.2020 https://www.ub.edu/web/ub/en/menu_eines/noticies/2020/01/010.html

Cornelia Bertram

*The contribution of “”food-jet-lag”: as important As solid food are times, in order not to gain weight” is published by FitForFun. Contact with the executives here.