Early meal timing attenuates high polygenic risk of obesity

Abstract

Objective We examined whether meal timing is associated with long‐term weight‐loss maintenance and whether meal timing interacts with a genome‐wide polygenic score (PRS‐BMI) on body weight‐related outcomes. We then examined the interaction of meal timing with 97 BMI‐related single‐nucleotide polymorphisms on obesity outcome. Methods Participants (N = 1195, mean age 41.07 [SD 12.68] years, female 80.8%, baseline mean BMI 31.32 [SD 5.53] kg/m2) were adults with overweight or obesity from the Obesity, Nutrigenetics, Timing, and Mediterranean (ONTIME) study. We developed a PRS‐BMI to assess the genetic risk for obesity and estimated the timing of the midpoint of meal intake. We also calculated the success in long‐term weight‐loss maintenance after a dietary obesity treatment (at least 3 years). Linear regression analyses were performed for association and interaction assessments. Results Each hour of delay in meal timing was associated with 2.2% higher long‐term body weight (β [SE] = 2.177% [1.067%]; p = 0.042) (i.e., with lower weight‐loss maintenance following dietary obesity treatment). There was a significant interaction between meal timing and PRS‐BMI (p = 0.008); BMI increased by more than 2 kg/m2 for every hour of delay in meal timing in individuals with high PRS‐BMI (β [SE] = 2.208 [0.502] kg/m2; p = 1.0E‐5), whereas no associations were evident for those with lower genetic risk. Conclusions Meal timing is associated with weight‐loss maintenance and may influence the association between obesity genetics and BMI. Findings underscore the importance of personalized obesity management. image