Summary: The time of day you eat can have a significant impact on symptoms of anxiety and depression, a new study reports.
Font: Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Overcome sadness with food? A new study adds evidence that meal timing can affect mental health, including levels of depression and anxiety-related mood. Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham health care system, designed a study that simulated night work and then tested the effects of eating during the day and at night compared to eating only during the day.
The team found that, among participants in the day and night eating group, depression-like mood levels increased by 26 percent and anxiety-like mood levels by 16 percent. Participants in the daytime-only group did not experience this increase, suggesting that meal timing may influence mood vulnerability.
The results are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
“Our findings provide evidence of the timing of food intake as a novel strategy for potentially minimizing mood vulnerability in people experiencing circadian misalignment, such as people who work shifts, experience jet lag, or suffer from circadian rhythm disturbances. “said the correspondent. Author Frank AJL Scheer, PhD, Director of the Medical Chronobiology Program in the Division of Circadian and Sleep Disorders at Brigham.
“Future studies in shift workers and clinical populations are required to firmly establish whether mealtime changes can prevent their increased mood vulnerability. Until then, our study brings a new ‘player’ to the table: the timing of food intake is important for our mood.”
Shift workers represent up to 20 percent of the workforce in industrial societies and are directly responsible for many hospital services, factory work, and other essential services. Shift workers often experience a misalignment between their central circadian clock in the brain and daily behaviors, such as sleep/wake and fast/eat cycles. Importantly, they also have a 25 to 40 percent higher risk of depression and anxiety.
“Shift workers, as well as people experiencing circadian disruption, including jet lag, may benefit from our mealtime intervention,” said co-corresponding author Sarah L. Chellappa, MD, PhD, who he completed work on this project while at the Brigham.
Chellappa is now in the Department of Nuclear Medicine at the University of Cologne, Germany. “Our findings open the door to a new sleep/circadian behavior strategy that could also benefit people experiencing mental health disorders. Our study adds to a growing body of evidence finding that strategies that optimize sleep and circadian rhythms can help promote mental health.”
To conduct the study, Scheer, Chellappa and their colleagues recruited 19 participants (12 men and 7 women) for a randomized controlled study. Participants underwent a low-light forced desynchronization protocol for four 28-hour “days,” such that by the fourth “day,” their behavioral cycles were reversed 12 hours, simulating night work and causing circadian misalignment.
Participants were randomly assigned to one of two meal timing groups: the Day and Night Eating Control Group, which ate according to a 28-hour cycle (resulting in eating both day and night, which which is typical among night workers), and the Daytime Meals Only Intervention Group, which had meals on a 24-hour cycle (resulting in eating only during the day).
The team assessed mood levels similar to depression and anxiety every hour.
The team found that meal timing significantly affected participants’ mood levels. During the simulated night shift (Day 4), those in the daytime and evening meal control group had increased depression-like mood levels and anxiety-like mood levels, compared to baseline ( day 1). In contrast, there was no change in mood in the Daytime Meals Intervention Group during the simulated night shift. Participants with a higher degree of circadian misalignment experienced a mood more similar to depression and anxiety.
“Meal timing is emerging as an important aspect of nutrition that can influence physical health,” said Chellappa. “But the causal role of timing of food intake on mental health remains to be tested. Future studies are required to establish whether changes in meal timing can help people experiencing depressive and anxiety/anxiety-related disorders.”
Disclosures: Scheer was a member of the board of directors of the Sleep Research Society and has received consulting fees from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Money: Este estudio fue financiado por los Institutos Nacionales de Salud (Números de subvención R01HL118601, 1UL1TR001102 y 1UL1TR002541, R01HL118601, R01DK099512, R01DK102696, R01DK105072, R01HL140574, R01HL1HL15001500150019TATOTOS Y KINATOTOS Y KINATOMENTOS Y KINATOS Y KINATOS Y KINACIÓN. -PDF-103).
About this research news on diet and mental health
Author: jessica pastore
Font: Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Contact: Jessica Pastore – Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Image: The image is in the public domain.
See also
original research: Open access.
“Eating during the day prevents mood vulnerability in night workby Frank A. J. L. Scheer et al. PNAS
Summary
Eating during the day prevents mood vulnerability in night work
Shift workers have a 25-40% increased risk of depression and anxiety, in part due to a mismatch between the central circadian clock and daily environmental/behavioral cycles that can negatively affect mood and emotional well-being . Therefore, evidence-based circadian interventions are required to prevent mood vulnerability in shift work settings.
We used a tightly controlled 14-day circadian paradigm to assess mood vulnerability during simulated night work with day and night feeding or daytime alone compared to simulated day work (baseline).
Simulated night work with day and night feeding increased depression-like mood levels by 26.2% (p-adjusted value using false discovery rates, pRDF=0.001; effect size r = 0.78) and anxiety-like moods in 16.1% (pRDF=0.001; effect size r = 0.47) compared to baseline, whereas this did not occur with sham night work in the daytime-only group.
Importantly, a greater degree of internal circadian misalignment was strongly associated with more depression.r = 0.77; P = 0.001) and type anxiety (r = 0.67; P = 0.002) Mood levels during simulated night work. These findings offer a proof-of-concept demonstration of an evidence-based mealtime intervention that can prevent mood vulnerability in shift work settings.
Future studies are required to establish whether mealtime changes can prevent mood vulnerability in night workers.
