Eating Occasions, Obesity and Related Behaviors in Working Adults: Does it Matter When You Snack?

Wendy E Barrington,Shirley A A Beresford

doi:10.3390/nu11102320

Abstract

Reported relationships between frequency, type, and timing of eating occasions and obesity-risk among adults are mixed while associations with obesogenic eating behaviors remain unexplored. The Physical Activity and Changes in Eating (PACE) study was a group-randomized controlled trial to prevent weight gain among 34 small worksites in Seattle from 2005–2009. Baseline surveys assessed body mass index (BMI), obesogenic eating behaviors (e.g., fast food and distracted-eating), and eating occasions (i.e., snacks and meals) among 2265 employees. BMI and waist circumference were measured on a subset (n = 567). Time-periods for analyses included: morning (12:00 a.m. to 10:59 a.m.), mid-day (11:00 a.m. to 4:29 p.m.), and evening (4:30 p.m. to 11:59 p.m.). Multilevel linear models estimated associations between snack timing, obesity, and related behaviors while adjusting for meal timing, gender, and worksite random effects. Greater morning snacking was associated with increased fruit and vegetable consumption, while greater evening snacking was associated with higher BMI, higher obesogenic dietary index (intake of fast food, French fries, and soft drinks), and higher percent time eating while distracted. Associations with mid-day snacking were mixed. Patterns of association were consistent across repeated and objective measures. Findings suggest that evening snacking is more detrimental to healthy weight compared to snacking at other times of day. Reducing evening snacks may be an important and simple message for population-level obesity prevention efforts.

Highlights

Obesity continues to threaten the health of U.S adults—almost 40% are affected and obesity prevalence among women has continued to increase [1]
Given the high correlation between self-reported and measured body mass index (BMI) at baseline, consistency in these findings is significant. This relationship was consistent for repeated measures of waist circumference as well as two measures of obesity-related behaviors, namely the obesogenic dietary index [18] and distracted-eating [22,23]
These are the first findings to present associations between timing of snack occasion and measures of obesity as well as related behaviors while adjusting for other meals consumed in the same period

Summary

Introduction

Obesity continues to threaten the health of U.S adults—almost 40% are affected and obesity prevalence among women has continued to increase [1]. Obesity prevention efforts, including dietary modification, have largely been unsuccessful in maintaining long-term weight reduction [2]. Our understanding of what dietary interventions are most effective is limited by how diet has been measured, and by what messages have been promoted for dietary change. Most studies have focused on communicating relationships between nutrient intake and obesity-risk. Focus has shifted recently towards understanding the composition of ‘obesogenic’ eating patterns and dietary behaviors. This approach is more communicated to the public in the form of dietary guidelines, and accounts for how nutrients are consumed together as foods and meals [3]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion