(ANSA) – FLORENCE, JUNE 08 – People who have evening chronotype, i.e. who prefer to stay up late and are more active in the second part of the day, have worse eating habits than people with morning chronotype, i.e. who wake up early in the morning, they are more active in the first part of the day and go to bed early. This is what emerges from the research on a sample of overweight people, disseminated on the occasion of the national congress of the Italian Society of Human Nutrition underway in Florence. The study, carried out by Sofia Lotti and her research group from the University of Florence, has investigated the role of chronotype on body composition, eating habits and cardiometabolic risk parameters on a sample of 51 overweight and obese subjects, recruited at the clinical nutrition unit of the Aou Careggi in Florence from March to April 2023, made up of 71% women and 29% men, mean age 50.3 ± 13.5 years. It was found that 26% of the participants had an evening chronotype, 74% morning.
From the analysis of eating habits it emerged that subjects with evening chronotype consumed significantly more daily calories than morning eaters and that the caloric distribution of meals changed according to circadian preference, with evening eaters consuming significantly more calories at lunch and dinner.
Evening subjects also reported eating a diet significantly higher in carbohydrates and fats, due to a higher consumption of sugary drinks, fast foods and sweets. By analyzing the timing of meal consumption, it emerged that subjects with an evening chronotype tended to consume all meals later than those in the morning. “In conclusion, although no significant differences emerged for body composition between the different chronotypes, the results of the study associated evening subjects with worse eating habits both in terms of dietary quality and in terms of meal timing, assuming more calories total daily fats and carbohydrates, and eating late meals. In addition, evening subjects reported lower blood levels of folic acid and vitamin B12.” (HANDLE).
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