Meal timing, nutritional status and diet quality in a group of Spanish children

Introduction: Some studies suggest that meal timing is involved in obesity and metabolic health. However, little is known about children, so the aim was to assess whether meal timing patterns affect nutritional status and diet quality in children.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 880 children (8-13 years). Participants were classified according to the median timing of their first meal, last meal and the length of their eating window (12 h). Adjusted linear regression was used to evaluate associations between first meal timing, last meal timing or eating window and anthropometric, biochemical and dietary variables.

Results: A later last meal was associated with lower scores on the Healthy Eating Index (HEI-2020), Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS) and DASH diet [β (95% CI): -1.139 (-2.258; -0.021), -0.207 (-0.408; -0.007) and - 0.582 (-1.072; -0.092), respectively]. A longer eating window was associated with higher glucose levels, LDL-c, and the ratio LDL-c/HDL-c [β (95% CI): 3.204 (1.876; 4.532), 4.725 (1.109; 8.342), and 0.090 (0.014; 0.166), respectively].

Conclusion: Later meal timing and a prolonged eating window were linked to poorer diet quality and unfavourable metabolic markers. It may be relevant to consider meal timing as a preventive health strategy in the development of future dietary guidelines.