The Timing of Meals Matters for Biological Aging

A recent study investigated a connection between the timing of meals and the rate of biological aging. These findings suggest that later timing of the first and last meals is associated with faster aging [1].

Finding the right patterns and rhythms

Chrono-nutrition is an approach that connects eating patterns, circadian rhythms, and health outcomes [2]. Previous studies in chrono-nutrition have linked certain dietary patterns, such as skipping breakfast or late-night eating, to an increased risk of obesity, cardiovascular disease, and metabolic syndrome [3, 4]. On the other hand, approaches such as time-restricted eating, in which food consumption is limited to specific intervals of the day, were associated with metabolic health benefits [5, 6], but their connection to aging and lifespan is still debated. While research in model systems shows benefits [7], human data do not confirm this, and, to the contrary, suggest elevated cardiovascular disease mortality [8].

To address some of the knowledge gaps, these researchers used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) database, which includes 14,012 participants, and assessed how various dietary rhythms affect the rate of aging of the heart, liver, kidneys, and overall body.

Timing matters

This analysis of dietary rhythms indicated that the answers to these questions are nuanced and depend on whether whole-body aging or organ-specific aging is analyzed.

For the whole body and the heart, the rate of biological aging was significantly lower among people who ate their last meals between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. than among those who ate after 9 p.m. However, earlier doesn’t always mean better: consuming the last meal before 3 p.m. was associated with increased aging in the heart and liver, whereas a positive effect was observed for those organs when the last meal occurred between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. The authors discuss how late meals disrupt metabolic activity during the time intended for rest and cellular repair, leading to elevated insulin levels and inflammation [9].

The timing of the first meal also mattered. In models of the body, heart, and liver, but not the kidney, there was a trend suggesting an association between a later consumption of the first meal and faster aging, which was especially evident when eating before 8 a.m was compared to eating after 12 p.m. Similarly, the body, heart, and liver, but not the kidney, showed an association between increased aging and an extended feeding window (over 16 hours) when compared to a feeding window of less than 8 hours.

The results regarding the late first meal and the feeding window might seem contradictory. Since a shorter feeding window is better for biological aging, shouldn’t skipping breakfast (thus extending the fast) be beneficial? The authors address this by explaining that “the timing of the first meal sets the metabolic tone for the day.” While later consumption of the first meal extends the fast, it might also disrupt the “morning peak of insulin sensitivity,” setting in motion metabolic processes that increase metabolic load in the heart and liver.

Not all are created equal

Not everyone was equally impacted by those findings. When the population was divided by different characteristics, several trends emerged. Factors such as age, sex, disease status, caloric intake, and diet quality all affected the impacts of meal timing on biological aging; however, these impacts were not uniform across all organs.

For example, in most cases, the timing of the first and last meals, as well as feeding duration, had a significant impact on people over 40 but not on younger participants. Similarly, men were much more impacted by the timing of the first and last meals than women weret. Alterations to feeding and fasting durations impacted women’s aging more than men’s.

The number of calories consumed, and their quality, also impacted these results. In people who had low caloric intake, “dietary rhythms were consistently associated with body and organ-specific biological aging.” Among people with high calorie intake, these associations were weaker.

For people with low caloric intake, the optimal timing of the last meal differed depending on which body or organ-specific clock was used as a metric, but they all generally agreed that aging was slower for people eating their last meals somewhere between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. as compared to people eating after 9 p.m. Such an association did not apply to the high-calorie group, but late eating of the first meal was relevant in both the low- and high-calorie groups and was associated with increased body- and organ-specific aging.

Feeding and fasting durations impacted both groups differently. In the low-calorie group, a feeding duration of over 16 hours was associated with faster aging of the body and heart, but these associations were weaker in the high-calorie group.

People eating healthy diets who delayed their first meals showed increased aging in the body and liver, whereas this was not the case for people eating unhealthy diets. However, the unhealthy diet group showed associations between heart aging and later timing of the first and last meals, and both groups showed an association between a longer feeding duration and increased heart aging. A feeding duration of at least 16 hours was also associated with faster aging of the body in the healthy diet group and of the kidney in the unhealthy diet group.

What, how much, and when

In summary, the results of this study show that later first- and last-meal consumption and increased feeding durations are associated with accelerated aging, suggesting, as the authors summarize, that “meal timing may be a powerful modulator of biological aging,” which aligns with a concept of chrono-nutrition that points to the importance of aligning meal times with circadian rhythms.

A more detailed analysis suggests differences across characteristics such as age and sex, indicating that personalized approaches are necessary when creating guidelines to optimize aging outcomes. Such guidelines should take into account what an individual eats, how much, and when, since, as some of this data suggests, a suboptimal timing of meals might reduce the positive effect of a healthy diet, while for people already eating unhealthy food, eating it at suboptimal times might exacerbate the detrimental effects.

Literature

[1] Zheng, L., Jia, Z., Gong, S., Zheng, T., Zhuang, Y., Lin, L., Li, Q., Lin, F., & Ren, M. (2026). Dietary rhythms and biological aging risk across multiple organs. Npj Science of Food.

‌[2] Franzago, M., Alessandrelli, E., Notarangelo, S., Stuppia, L., & Vitacolonna, E. (2023). Chrono-Nutrition: Circadian Rhythm and Personalized Nutrition. International journal of molecular sciences, 24(3), 2571.

[3] Palomar-Cros, A., Andreeva, V. A., Fezeu, L. K., Julia, C., Bellicha, A., Kesse-Guyot, E., Hercberg, S., Romaguera, D., Kogevinas, M., Touvier, M., & Srour, B. (2023). Dietary circadian rhythms and cardiovascular disease risk in the prospective NutriNet-Santé cohort. Nature communications, 14(1), 7899.

[4] Yoshida, J., Eguchi, E., Nagaoka, K., Ito, T., & Ogino, K. (2018). Association of night eating habits with metabolic syndrome and its components: a longitudinal study. BMC public health, 18(1), 1366.

[5] Hatori, M., Vollmers, C., Zarrinpar, A., DiTacchio, L., Bushong, E. A., Gill, S., Leblanc, M., Chaix, A., Joens, M., Fitzpatrick, J. A., Ellisman, M. H., & Panda, S. (2012). Time-restricted feeding without reducing caloric intake prevents metabolic diseases in mice fed a high-fat diet. Cell metabolism, 15(6), 848–860.

[6] Schuppelius, B., Peters, B., Ottawa, A., & Pivovarova-Ramich, O. (2021). Time Restricted Eating: A Dietary Strategy to Prevent and Treat Metabolic Disturbances. Frontiers in endocrinology, 12, 683140.

[7] Ulgherait, M., Midoun, A. M., Park, S. J., Gatto, J. A., Tener, S. J., Siewert, J., Klickstein, N., Canman, J. C., Ja, W. W., & Shirasu-Hiza, M. (2021). Circadian autophagy drives iTRF-mediated longevity. Nature, 598(7880), 353–358.

[8] Chen, M., & Zhong, V. W. (2024). Abstract P192: Association Between Time-Restricted Eating and All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality. Circulation, 149(Suppl_1).

[9] Qian, J., Dalla Man, C., Morris, C. J., Cobelli, C., & Scheer, F. A. J. L. (2018). Differential effects of the circadian system and circadian misalignment on insulin sensitivity and insulin secretion in humans. Diabetes, obesity & metabolism, 20(10), 2481–2485.