Stability of the timing of food intake at daily and monthly timescales in young adults.
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| Abstract | :  Cross-sectional observations have shown that the timing of eating may be important for health-related outcomes. Here we examined the stability of eating timing, using both clock hour and relative circadian time, across one semester (n = 14) at daily and monthly time-scales. At three time points ~ 1 month apart, circadian phase was determined during an overnight in-laboratory visit and eating was photographically recorded for one week to assess timing and composition. Day-to-day stability was measured using the Composite Phase Deviation (deviation from a perfectly regular pattern) and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) were used to determine individual stability across months (weekly average compared across months). Day-to-day clock timing of caloric events had poor stability within individuals (~ 3-h variation; ICC = 0.12-0.34). The timing of eating was stable across months (~ 1-h variation, ICCs ranging from 0.54-0.63), but less stable across months when measured relative to circadian timing (ICC = 0.33-0.41). Our findings suggest that though day-to-day variability in the timing of eating has poor stability, the timing of eating measured for a week is stable across months within individuals. This indicates two relevant timescales: a monthly timescale with more stability in eating timing than a daily timescale. Thus, a single day's food documentation may not represent habitual (longer timescale) patterns. | 
| Year of Publication | :  2020 | 
| Journal | :  Scientific reports | 
| Volume | :  10 | 
| Issue | :  1 | 
| Number of Pages | :  20849 | 
| Date Published | :  2020 | 
| URL | :  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-77851-z | 
| DOI | :  10.1038/s41598-020-77851-z | 
| Short Title | :  Sci Rep | 
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