About this Research Topic

Background

Chrononutrition – the interaction between human biological rhythms and our eating behaviours – has been implicated in various aspects of human health. For example, sleep disorders, metabolic disorders, cardiometabolic health, energy expenditure and bodyweight, psychosocial well-being, oxidative stress/aging, antihypertensive effects of natural bioactive compounds, body composition, content and quality of human milk, diabetes and gestational diabetes, and systemic inflammation, and so forth.

Despite other fields of medicine, such as pharmaceutical chronology, there is almost no considerable mention of importance of “timing” in nutrition, in the literature. There is mounting evidence that the timing of sleeping and exercise or taking nutrient supplements, has a deep effect on nutritional physiology. However, numerous factors must be considered to better analyze the effects of “timing” regarding nutrition, for example; variations in metabolic rate throughout the day, the synergistic effects of different nutrients, consumption of modifiers (e.g., caffeine, polyphenols) which can act on metabolic enzymes and composition of the microbiota, as well as timing of probiotic consumption.

In recent years, a popular nutritional strategy - "nutrient timing" - has emerged, involving the consumption of several nutrients in different combinations (for instance, during exercise). It posits that the timing of nutrient consumption may be more important than the absolute daily intake of nutrients and subsequently can produce dramatic improvements in body composition and other health outcomes. For example, ingestion of sodium bicarbonate before short-term, high-intensity exercise has been suggested to reduce gastrointestinal discomfort, Furthermore, adjuvant selenium supplementation in patients with acute pancreatitis and septic shock appears to improve antioxidant status in a fashion dependent on size of dosage and supplementation time. However very little exists on optimal loading times regarding nutrient timing and health outcomes.

This Research Topic therefore welcomes original research articles, systematic and critical reviews, short communications, and scientific reports in the areas of nutritional chronology and timing of nutrition/diet therapy and supplementation.

Topics covered will include but are not restricted to:

• Timing, optimal dose, and intake duration of dietary supplements in physiologic and pathologic conditions - as well as interaction among these variables during the life course.
• Studies relating daily diets, metabolism, calorimetry, and appetite to timing and nutritional chronology from the standpoint of gut microbiota, biology, biochemistry, hormonal, cellular, and molecular research in human and animals.
• Daily patterns of energy and macro/micronutrient distribution and their association with metabolism in physiologic and pathologic conditions.
• Basic and experimental studies of circadian rhythms, circadian genes, metabolism, and chrononutrition in rodents and humans as well as interplays psychosocial well-being with chrono-biology, chrono-pharmacology, and chrono-nutrition.
• Methodological commentary papers on chrononutrition-induced biases.
• Novel proposals for development, validation and reliability of the Chrononutrition Profile-Questionnaire.
• Novel proposals to develop chrononutrition-based mobile apps and interventional studies investigating meal timings and weight changes.

Keywords: Chrononutrition, Metabolism, Biochemistry, Appetite, Hormones, Microbiota

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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