ABSTRACT
Animal studies strongly suggest that timed feeding can have beneficial physiological effects, including protection against the obesogenic and metabolic consequences of a high-fat diet. However, the relationship between variables related to the timing of eating and diet quality in pregnancy women, which is considered as a period of nutritional vulnerability, is still poorly described in the literature. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the associations between time-related eating patterns and chronotype with diet quality of pregnant women. This cross-sectional study was conducted with 100 pregnant women in the first gestational trimester (≤12 weeks of gestation). The information regarding food intake was obtained by three 24-Hour Dietary Recall (24HR). Time-related eating patterns, i.e., the interval between the first and the last meal (eating duration), nightly fasting, time of the first and last meals, and number of meals eating on a day were determined. Chronotype was derived using the mid-sleep time on free days on weekends, with a further correction for calculated sleep debt. Diet quality was evaluated using the Brazilian Healthy Eating Index-Revised (BHEI-R), validated for the Brazilian population. Linear regression modeling analyses adjusted for confounders were used to investigate the association between time-related eating patterns and chronotype with diet quality. The BHEI-R total score was negatively associated with time of the first meal (ß = -0.355; p = 0.002; r2 adjusted = 0.141), and positively associated with eating duration (ß = 0.262; p = 0.024; r2 adjusted = 0.086) and number of meals (ß = 0.273; p = 0.019; r2 adjusted = 0.091). In addition, the score of total fruit component was negatively associated with chronotype (ß = -0.236; p = 0.033; r2 adjusted = 0.078), time of the first meal (ß = -0.393; p = 0.001; r2 adjusted = 0.171), and positively associated with eating duration (ß = 0.259; p = 0.022; r2 adjusted = 0.087) and number of meals (ß = 0.376; p = 0.001; r2 adjusted = 0.159). The score for whole fruit component was negatively associated with time of the first meal (ß = -0.388; p = 0.001; r2 adjusted = 0.152), and positively associated with number of meals (ß = 0.403; p = 0.001; r2 adjusted = 0.164). A longer eating duration, earlier time of the first meal, higher number of meals and morningness tendency are associated with a better diet quality in the first gestational trimester - higher scores of the total BHEI-R and/or fruit components. We suggest that nutritional guidelines should consider time-related eating patterns and chronotype to ensure good diet quality of pregnant women since the beginning of gestation, contributing on prevention of metabolic-nutritional complications.
