[The importance of chrononutrition for human metabolic health]

Biorhythms play a huge role in the self-regulation of living systems and in the regulation of their interaction with the environment. Circadian rhythms are the periodicity of internal biological mechanisms that determine the state of metabolic processes, including those related to nutrient and energy consumption (chrononutrition). Chrononutrition is a type of food intake that is based on the chronotype: morning, intermediate, or evening type. The purpose of the study was to analyze and summarize data that characterize the effectiveness of chrononutrition under different dietary regimes.

For the main search of sources over the past 5 years, we used the bibliographic databases of the Russian Science Citation Index, PubMed, as well as the non-commercial search engine Google Scholar.

The review presents the results of studies on the chrononutrition effectiveness under various dietary regimes aimed at correcting excess body weight. A comparative assessment of the effect of low-calorie diets and intermittent fasting on anthropometric parameters and cardiometabolic risks in individuals with overweight and obesity has been conducted. No advantages of intermittent fasting over low-calorie diets have been found. The analysis of the data demonstrated the important role of a dietary pattern that is consistent with circadian rhythms in improving metabolic health.

The features of chrononutrition must be taken into account when prescribing any dietary interventions, including low-calorie diets and time-limited eating strategies.