AUTHOR=Rodríguez-Cano Ameyalli M. , Medel-Canchola Berenice , González-Ludlow Isabel , Rodríguez-Hernández Carolina , Reyes-Muñoz Enrique , Schiffman-Selechnik Esther , Estrada-Gutierrez Guadalupe , Perichart-Perera Otilia 

TITLE=Nighttime eating during pregnancy and infant adiposity at 6 months of life

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Nutrition

VOLUME=11

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2024.1364722

DOI=10.3389/fnut.2024.1364722

ISSN=2296-861X

ABSTRACT=<sec id="sec1"><title>Introduction</title><p>Chrononutrition studies the relation between diet, circadian rhythms and metabolism, which may alter the metabolic intrauterine environment, influencing infant fat-mass (FM) development and possibly increasing obesity risk.</p></sec><sec id="sec2"><title>Aim</title><p>To evaluate the association of chrononutrition in pregnancy and infant FM at 6 months.</p></sec><sec id="sec3"><title>Methods</title><p>Healthy pregnant women and term-babies (<italic>n</italic> = 100pairs) from the OBESO cohort (2017–2023) were studied. Maternal registries included pregestational body-mass-index (BMI), gestational complications/medications, weight gain. Diet (three 24 h-recalls, 1 each trimester) and sleep-schedule (first and third trimesters) were evaluated computing fasting (hours from last–first meal), breakfast and dinner latencies (minutes between wake up-breakfast and dinner-sleep, respectively), number of main meals/day, meal skipping (≥1 main meal/d on three recalls) and nighttime eating (from 9:00 pm–5:59 am on three recalls). Neonatal weight, length, BMI/age were assessed. At 6 months, infant FM (kg, %; air-displacement plethysmography) was measured, and FM index (FMI—kgFM/length<sup>2</sup>) computed. Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) was recorded. Multiple linear regression models evaluated the association between chrononutrition and 6 month infant FM.</p></sec><sec id="sec4"><title>Results</title><p>Mean fasting was 11.7 ± 1.3 h; breakfast, dinner latency were 87.3 ± 75.2, 99.6 ± 65.6 min, respectively. Average meals/day were 3.0 ± 0.5. Meal skipping was reported in 3% (<italic>n</italic> = 3) of women and nighttime eating in 35% (<italic>n</italic> = 35). Most neonates had normal BMI/age (88%, <italic>n</italic> = 88). Compared to those who did not, mothers engaged in nighttime-eating had infants with higher %FM (<italic>p</italic> = 0.019). Regression models (<italic>R</italic><sup>2</sup> ≥ 0.308, <italic>p</italic> ≤ 0.001) showed that nighttime eating was positively associated with %FM (B: 2.7, 95%CI: 0.32–5.16). When analyzing women without complications/medications (<italic>n</italic> = 80), nighttime eating was associated with higher FM [%FM, B: 3.24 (95%CI: 0.59–5.88); kgFM, B: 0.20 (95%CI: 0.003–0.40); FMI, B: 0.54 (95%CI: 0.03–1.05)]. Infant sex and weight (6 months) were significant, while maternal obesity, pregnancy complications/medications, parity, energy intake, birth-BMI/age, and EBF were not.</p></sec><sec id="sec5"><title>Conclusion</title><p>Maternal nighttime eating is associated with higher adiposity in 6 month infants.</p></sec>