Research

Hormonal

Delaying meal timing by 5 hours in healthy young men significantly delays the phase of plasma glucose circadian rhythms and reduces mean plasma glucose concentration, while delaying white adipose tissue (WAT) PER2 clock gene expression, without affecting the central master clock (melatonin/cortisol) or insulin/triglyceride rhythms.

If you work shifts or have jet lag, try shifting your main meals later to align with your new schedule. This won't change your sleep hormone (melatonin) timing, but it will help synchronize your body's peripheral clocks (like those in your fat tissue) and improve how your body handles glucose throughout the day. Keep meals isocaloric and consistent in composition.

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Following late meals, however, plasma glucose rhythms were delayed by 5.69 ± 1.29 hr (p < 0.001), and average glucose concentration decreased by 0.27 ± 0.05 mM (p < 0.001). In adipose tissue, PER2 mRNA rhythms were delayed by 0.97 ± 0.29 hr (p < 0.01)... Delayed meals had no significant effect on either DLMO or cortisol phase... There was a significant effect of time of day, but no significant effect of meals or meal 3 time-of-day interaction on plasma insulin concentration... There was a significant effect of time of day, but no significant effect of meals or meal 3 time-of-day interaction on plasma triglyceride concentration.
Sophie M. T. Wehrens et al. · Current Biology · 2017

Why this rating

Randomized crossover design with constant routine controls, but small sample size (n=10 for plasma, n=7 for biopsy) and restricted demographics (young healthy men).

Source

Meal Timing Regulates the Human Circadian System

Sophie M. T. Wehrens et al. · Current Biology · 2017

DOI 10.1016/j.cub.2017.04.059

crossover · n=10Cited 555×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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