Are time of day and season of the year associated with dietary intake and obesity risk?

Abstract

The worldwide prevalence of obesity has become a challenge for public health all over the world. Given that the different interventions proposed to treat excess weight are not effective enough to control the reduction in obesity rates, the need for a deeper understanding of the factors associated with obesity becomes evident. From this perspective, chrononutritional factors have the potential to contribute to a better understanding of the subject, so that new approaches such as time-restricted eating can be added to traditional methods of prevention and treatment. This project aims to analyze whether the risk of obesity in the Brazilian population is associated with times and seasons of food intake. Data from a cross-sectional study conducted in Brazil from the 2008-2009 Pesquisa de Orçamentos Familiares (POF - Brazilian Family Budgets Survey) will be analyzed. The sample involved 32,898 individuals. Two 24-hour food recall recorded food consumption. Time-related eating patterns include the time of the first and last meal, eating duration, nightly fasting, 12-h nightly fasting, and number of meals. These data will be collected in the database. In addition, the dates on which the food consumption data were obtained will be used in order to identify the season. The linear values of body mass index (BMI) will be used as outcome measures. Multiple logistic regressions will be used to assess associations between variables. The models will be adjusted for sociodemographic and lifestyle characteristics. These analyses will be carried out together with Professor Debra Skene from the University of Surrey. In addition, this is an umbrella proposal that includes activities to be carried out by Prof. Cibele Crispim during her visit at the University of Surrey, and Jefferson Santos, postdoc at the Faculty of Public Health under my supervision. (AU)