title: A Smartphone App Reveals Erratic Diurnal Eating Patterns in Humans that Can Be Modulated for Health Benefits.
abstract: A diurnal rhythm of eating-fasting promotes health, but the eating pattern of humans is rarely assessed. Using a mobile app, we monitored ingestion events in healthy adults with no shift-work for several days. Most subjects ate frequently and erratically throughout wakeful hours, and overnight fasting duration paralleled time in bed. There was a bias toward eating late, with an estimated <25% of calories being consumed before noon and >35% after 6 p.m. "Metabolic jetlag" resulting from weekday/weekend variation in eating pattern akin to travel across time zones was prevalent. The daily intake duration (95% interval) exceeded 14.75 hr for half of the cohort. When overweight individuals with >14 hr eating duration ate for only 10-11 hr daily for 16 weeks assisted by a data visualization (raster plot of dietary intake pattern, "feedogram") that we developed, they reduced body weight, reported being energetic, and improved sleep. Benefits persisted for a year.
authors.affiliation: Regulatory Biology Laboratory, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
authors.forename: Shubhroz
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gill
authors.affiliation: Regulatory Biology Laboratory, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA. Electronic address: satchin@salk.edu.
authors.forename: Satchidananda
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Panda
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001835:Body Weight; D004435:Eating / Q000502:physiology*; D002149:Energy Intake / Q000502:physiology*; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D000068997:Smartphone