Research

Energy balance

A higher ratio of evening-to-morning energy intake is positively associated with increased BMI and lower diet quality.

If you are trying to manage your weight, try to shift more of your daily calories to earlier in the day. Specifically, aim to have a higher proportion of your energy intake in the morning compared to the evening. Studies suggest that a higher ratio of evening-to-morning intake is linked to higher BMI.

ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
BMI was also found to be positively associated with evening:morning energy intake, with a 2 SD difference in ratio of evening:morning energy intake being associated with a 0·2 kg/m2 increase in BMI, after adjustment for sex, age and population sample(37).
Suzana Almoosawi et al. · Proceedings of The Nutrition Society · 2016

Why this rating

Based on observational cross-sectional and longitudinal cohort data, not RCTs, showing association but not causation.

Source

Chrono-nutrition: a review of current evidence from observational studies on global trends in time-of-day of energy intake and its association with obesity

Suzana Almoosawi et al. · Proceedings of The Nutrition Society · 2016

DOI 10.1017/s0029665116000306

narrative_reviewCited 224×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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