Chrono-Nutritional Patterns, Medical Comorbidities, and Psychological Status in Patients with Severe Obesity

• Published in: Nutrients 2023-12, Vol.15 (23), p.5003
• Main Authors: Bettini, Silvia, Schiff, Sami, Carraro, Enrico, Callegari, Chiara, Gusella, Beatrice, Pontesilli, Giulia Maria, D'Angelo, Matteo, Baldan, Valeria, Zattarin, Alessandra, Romanelli, Giulia, Angeli, Paolo, Girardi, Paolo, Spinella, Paolo, Vettor, Roberto, Busetto, Luca
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alcohol; Algorithms; Analysis; Cholesterol; chrono-nutrition; Clustering; Comorbidity; Data analysis; Diabetes; dietary habits; dietary patterns; Eating behavior; Eating disorders; Food; Food habits; Gastrointestinal surgery; Glucose; High density lipoprotein; Insulin resistance; Meals; Medical research; Medicine, Experimental; Mental health; Metabolic disorders; Nutrition; Obesity; physical and mental health; psychological parameters; Psychopathology; Quantitative psychology; Questionnaires; Shift work; Statistical analysis; Triglycerides; Weight control
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu15235003

Chrono-nutrition studies dietary habits and their role in the onset of metabolic diseases. The aim of this study is to describe chrono-nutritional patterns based on the analysis of the eating habits of patients with severe obesity during the 24-h cycle and investigate a possible relationship between these profiles, the comorbidities, and the psychological status. From the overall evaluation of the chrono-nutritional profiles of 173 patients with severe obesity, four predominant eating patterns were obtained with a refined statistical model. A regression analysis was performed to determine the relationship between chrono-nutritional patterns, medical comorbidities, and psychological status. Profile 1 was the most frequent (46.2%) and characterised by the regular presence of the three main meals. The distribution of the chrono-nutritional profiles did not vary with BMI. Chrono-nutritional profiles affected predominantly psychological variables, with lower performances among chrono-nutritional profiles 3 (to eat during all the 24-h, with nibbling and snacking also during the night) and 4 (like the fourth but without night-eating). This finding could be useful in the assessment and treatment of patients with obesity, allowing the identification of patients with a higher probability of suffering from a psychopathological condition simply by knowing the patients' dietary profiles.