Meal times differ from culture to culture. These differences may influence energy regulation and, consequently, body weight. Current studies support the notion that not only what but also when the investigators eat may have a significant role in obesity treatment. Recently, it has been shown that eating the main meal of the day, lunch in Spain, late in the day is predictive of difficulty in weight loss and decreased insulin sensitivity. Furthermore, it has been shown that eating late at night when plasma melatonin concentrations are elevated, impairs glucose tolerance, particularly in MTNR1B risk allele carriers.~The main objective is to identify the mechanisms underlying the association between the timing of food intake, obesity and metabolic syndrome (MetS) in order to design effective weight loss therapies. The long-term goal is to determine the potential impact of more European, i.e., earlier meal timing on obesity, MetS and weight loss.~The challenge for the society is to develop evidence-based dietary interventions incorporating meal timing and genotype to combat the epidemic of obesity and MetS.~These goals will be achieved through three specific approaches:~Epidemiological (observational study) (Aim 1): To assess in an obese population (n=5000) who will follow a weight loss program if clock-related (CLOCK, PER2, CRY, etc.) and melatonin-related variants (MTNR1B) interact with the timing of food intake to determine weight loss effectiveness and MetS features.~Interventional (randomized controlled trials) (Aim 2): To determine the internal mechanisms of energy balance and circadian system implicated in the differential effects of food timing (lunch) on weight loss, MetS alterations and the intestinal microbiota (n=25), and to study the potential interaction between meal timing (dinner) and genetic variants MTNR1B for glucose tolerance in obese women (n=100).
Meal times differ from culture to culture. These differences may influence energy regulation and, consequently, body weight. Current studies support the notion that not only what but also when the investigators eat may have a significant role in obesity treatment. Recently, it has been shown that eating the main meal of the day, lunch in Spain, late in the day is predictive of difficulty in weight loss and decreased insulin sensitivity. This project aims to study in a Mediterranean population the potential influence of genetics and food timing on obesity, metabolic syndrome and weight loss.