Eating meals early can reduce
the risk of the world's leading cause of death
Heart disease is the world's leading cause of death
with 18.6 million deaths per year according to the 2019
Global Burden of
Disease study, of which about 7.9 are attributable to the diet.
This means that diet plays a key role in the emergence
and development of these diseases.
Modern lifestyle has led to specific dietary habits
such as having a late dinner or skipping breakfast.
In addition to light, daily circulation of eating
(basic meals, snacks, etc.) alternately with fasting periods
synchronizes the circadian rhythms of different body organs
thereby affecting cardiovascular functions
such as blood pressure regulation.
In the study published in Nature Communications
scientists used data from 103,389 participants in the NutriNet-Santé group
79% of whom were women, with an average age of 42, to study
the association between eating patterns and cardiovascular disease.
To reduce the risk of potential bias
researchers have taken into account a large number of confusing factors
especially social and demographic factors (age, sex, family status, etc.)
diet quality, lifestyle, and sleep cycle.
Results showed that eating the first meal later in the day
(e.g. when skipping breakfast), is associated with a higher risk of
cardiovascular disease, with a 6% increase in risk per hour delay.
For example
a person who first eats at 9 a.m. is 6% more likely
to develop cardiovascular disease than a person who eats at 8 a.m.
When it comes to the last meal of the day, eating late (after 9 pm)
is associated with a 28% increase in the risk of cerebrovascular
diseases such
as stroke compared to eating before 8 pm, especially in women.
Finally, the longer duration of fasting during the night
i.e. the time between the last meal of the day and the first meal of
the following day
is associated with the lower risk of cerebrovascular disease
which supports the idea of eating the first and last meals early in the day.
These findings, which must be replicated in
other groups and through additional scientific studies
with different designs, highlight the potential role of meal timing in
the prevention of cardiovascular disease.
Researchers suggest that adopting a habit of eating first
and last meals early with a longer period of fasting during
the night can help prevent the risk of cardiovascular disease.