Chrononutrition: exploring determinants and feature importance of eating timing among Brazilian adults

Longo-Silva, Giovana; Serenini, Renan; Lima, Márcia de Oliveira; Melo, Júlia Souza de; Soares, Larissa de Lima; Menezes, Risia Cristina Egito de

doi:10.1590/1413-8123202631.13912024

THEMATIC ARTICLE • Ciênc. saúde coletiva 31 (suppl 1) • 2026 • https://doi.org/10.1590/1413-8123202631.13912024 linkcopy

Chrononutrition: exploring determinants and feature importance of eating timing among Brazilian adults

Crononutrição: investigando os determinantes e a importância das variáveis nos horários de alimentação entre adultos brasileiros

Crononutrición: explorando los determinantes y la importancia de las características del horario de alimentación en adultos brasileños

SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Our study aimed to explore factors influencing the timing of food intake, including physiological, behavioral, personal preferences, cultural, and environmental dynamics. Using data from 5,260 Brazilian adults collected through a virtual, exploratory, population-based survey (Sonar-Brazil/2023-24), Lasso regression identified the determinants of the timing of the first and last food intake, lunch, eating midpoint, and weekly breakfast skipping. Random Forest analysis was used to assess the feature importance for the eating midpoint. Chronotype emerged as the primary predictor across all outcomes: as chronotype shifted towards eveningness, the frequency of breakfast skipping increased and food intake timings delayed. While depression, obesity, evening screen time, smoking, caffeine consumption, having dinner as the largest meal, short sleep duration, and working remotely were associated with a later eating midpoint, age, female sex, exercising, evening alcohol consumption, diet quality, working in-office, and higher education were associated with an earlier eating midpoint. Insights into modifiable factors influencing eating timing can inform public health interventions aimed at promoting healthier eating habits aligned with the circadian system, tailored to diverse regional and individual contexts.

Key words:
Meal timing; Circadian rhythm; Chrononutrition; Food intake

Variables	Total	Eating Midpoint
Variables	Total	Tertile 1	Tertile 2	Tertile 3	P-value
Eating Midpoint, decimal time	14.69±1.23	13.45±0.49	14.56±0.27	16.05±0.90
First eating, decimal time	8.22 1.65	7.05±0.79^a,b,c	7.84±0.86^a,b,c	9.79±1.69^a,b,c	<0.001
Lunch time, decimal time	12.61 0.77	12.38±0.62^a,b,c	12.60±0.64^a,b,c	12.86±0.93^a,b,c	<0.001
Last eating, decimal time	21.15 1.46	19.86±0.93^a,b,c	21.29±0.87^a,b,c	22.31±1.31^a,b,c	<0.001
Age, years	36.39±12.40	39.19±12.42^a	36.86±12.35^a	33.09±11.65^a	<0.001
18-29 years, %	36.18	24.70	31.27	44.04	<0.001
30-49 years, %	46.16	36.66	34.39	28.95
50-65 years, %	17.66	42.84	35.09	22.07
Sex, %
Female	70.32	34.77	33.82	31.41	<0.001
Male	29.68	30.24	32.35	37.41
BMI, Kg/m²	25.66 ± 4.92	25.60±4.67	25.54±4.77	25.86±5.31	0.12
Nutritional Status, %
Normal (BMI<25Kg/m²)	50.82	33.26	34.27	32.47	0.009
Overweight (BMI:25-29.9Kg/m²)	32.66	34.87	33.41	31.72
Obesity (BMI>29.9Kg/m²)	16.52	31.07	30.61	38.32
Depression, %
Yes	13.57	26.47	30.25	43.28	<0.001
No	86.43	34.51	33.88	31.61
Physical exercise, %
Yes	73.19	35.19	34.68	30.13	<0.001
No	26.81	28.58	29.86	41.56
Timing of Physical Exercise, %
05 am to 11 am	39.60	40.47	36.68	22.85	<0.001
11 pm to 18 pm	37.22	32.07	35.24	32.69	0.07
After 18 pm	25.34	28.51	35.33	36.16	<0.001
Screen time before bed, min	73.63±68.10	66.86±67.19^a	71.23±68.97^b	82.84±67.17^a,b	<0.001
Tobacco smoking, %
Yes	5.82	16.99	32.03	50.98	<0.001
No	94.18	34.44	33.47	32.10
Alcohol consumption after 6 pm, days/week	1.07±1.48	0.96±1.41^a,b	1.12±1.51^a	1.14±1.52^b	<0.001
Caffeine consumption, times/day	2.36±1.57	2.13±1.45^a,b	2.37±1.48^a,c	2.57±1.75^b,c	<0.001
Diet quality, score	49.17±9.13	51.49±8.67^a,b,c	49.37±8.89^a,b,c	46.62±9.16^a,b,c	<0.001
Low (1^st tertile), n (%)	34.30	23.61	32.32	44.07	<0.001
Intermediate (2^nd tertile), n (%)	35.68	33.30	35.16	31.54
Good (3^rd tertile), n (%)	30.02	44.78	32.49	22.74
Skipping Breakfast, days/week	1.05±2.17	0.20±0.86^a,b,c	0.53±1.47^a,b,c	2.41±2.90^a,b,c	<0.001
Largest meal, %
Breakfast	5.80	45.25	35.08	19.67	<0.001
Lunch	80.13	34.00	34.35	31.65
Dinner	8.38	20.63	23.36	56.01
None	5.51	32.76	32.76	34.48
Snacks	0.17	11.11	33.33	55.56
Chronotype (MSFsc), decimal time	27.38±1.31	26.57±0.96^a,b,c	27.31±0.99^a,b,c	28.28±1.34^a,b,c	<0.001
Early (<p25)	33.61	59.95	27.71	12.33	<0.001
Intermediate (p25-p75)	33.61	30.66	44.34	25.00
Late (>p75)	32.78	9.05	27.96	62.99
Wake time, decimal time	6.80±1.18	6.08±0.82^a,b,c	6.70±0.83^a,b,c	7.61±1.29^a,b,c	<0.001
Bedtime, decimal time	23.33±1.21	22.51±0.96^a,b,c	23.26 0.85^a,b,c	24.23±1.12^a,b,c	<0.001
Sleep Duration, hour	7.46±1.11	7.57±1.03^a,b	7.44±1.05^a	7.38±1.24^b	<0.001
<7 hours/night, %	29.94	26.79	34.22	38.98	<0.001
≥7 hours/night, %	70.06	36.26	33.03	30.72
Work setup, %
Do not work, %	17.98	27.17	29.18	43.66	<0.001
Remote work, %	25.11	29.45	35.96	34.60
In-office work, %	56.90	37.15	33.58	29.27
Graduation, %
Yes	71.29	35.39	34.85	29.76	<0.001
No	28.71	28.54	29.74	41.72
Married/Stable Union, %
Yes	43.40	39.25	35.26	25.49
No	56.60	28.96	31.94	39.10	<0.001
Season, %
Winter	12.78	37.20	35.12	27.68	<0.001
Spring	18.84	36.63	30.68	32.69
Summer	9.60	44.75	25.15	30.10
Autumn	58.78	29.72	35.22	35.06

Variables		Standardized Coefficients
Variables		Breakfast Skipping	First Eating	Lunch Time	Last Eating	Eating Midpoint
Physiological	Age, years	-0.1427	-0.0085	0.0746	-0.0574	-0.0299
	Sex, Female	-0.0829	0.0117	0.0564	-0.0721	-0.0248
	Depression, yes	0.0475	0.0120	0.0019	0.0332	0.0232
	Obesity, yes	0.0904	0.0837	----	-0.0319	0.0161
Behavioral and Personal Preference	Morning Exercise (between 5 and 10am), yes	-0.1424	-0.1343	-0.0158	-0.0059	-0.0673
	Evening Exercise (after 6pm), yes	-0.0761	-0.0755	----	0.0289	-0.0117
	Screen Time before bedtime, min	0.0509	0.0288	----	----	0.0100
	Smoking, yes	0.1525	0.1174	0.0127	0.0247	0.0703
	Evening Alcohol Consumption, days/week	-0.0011	-0.0225	-0.0029	----	-0.0039
	Caffeine Consumption, freq/day	-0.1067	-0.0413	----	0.1012	0.0269
	Diet Quality, score	-0.2416	-0.1192	----	-0.0467	-0.0837
	Largest Meal is Dinner/Supper, yes	0.2306	0.1584	0.0537	0.0626	0.1086
	Chronotype (MSFsc), decimal time	0.3366	0.7383	0.2166	0.6083	0.6757
	Short Sleep Duration (<7h), yes	0.1106	-0.0872	0.0596	0.2954	0.0989
Cultural and Environment	Brazil’ s Region (reference: Northeast)
	North	-0.0516	0.0213	-0.0181	0.0047	0.0008
	Midwest	0.0729	0.0654	-0.0439	-0.0390	----
	Southeast	-0.0249	0.0697	-0.0026	-0.0252	----
	South	0.0471	0.0812	-0.0785	-0.0337	0.0011
	Work Setup (reference: do not work)
	Remote work	-0.0473	0.0249	0.0221	----	0.0032
	In-office work	-0.0312	-0.0410	----	----	-0.0240
	Education, graduated	-0.0550	-0.0767	-0.0127	----	-0.0318
	Marital Status, married/stable union	----	-0.0137	----	----	----
	Season, Winter/Autumn	-0.0806	-0.1314	----	0.1456	0.0070

Variables	Total	North	Northeast	Midwest	Southeast	South	P value
Variables	n (%)	5,260 (100)	479 (9.11)	1,446 (27.49)	418 (7,95)	2,166 (41.18)	751 (14.28)
First Eating*	8.22±1.65	8.08±1.41^a	8.09±1.68^b,c	8.24±1.67	8.27±1.66^b	8.43±1.68^a,c	<0.001
Tertile 1	33.75	33.40	38.38	36.36	32.50	27.16	<0.001
Tertile 2	34.47	36.12	32.64	32.06	33.84	40.08
Tertile 3	31.79	30.48	28.98	31.58	33.66	32.76
Lunch Time*	12.61±0.77	12.59±0.65	12.65±0.76^a,b	12.45±0.73^a,c	12.68±0.82^c,d	12.46±0.69^b,d	<0.001
Tertile 1	40.63	35.91	37.68	48.33	38.83	50.20	<0.001
Tertile 2	28.42	34.66	28.35	27.99	26.78	29.56
Tertile 3	30.95	29.44	33.96	23.68	34.40	20.24
Last Eating*	21.15±1.46	21.33±1.38^a,b	21.07±1.49^a	20.96±1.37^b,c	21.19±1.48^c	21.18±1.40	<0.001
Tertile 1	34.68	28.60	36.31	42.82	33.98	32.89	<0.001
Tertile 2	32.55	35.07	29.88	31.34	33.47	34.09
Tertile 3	32.78	36.33	33.82	25.84	32.55	33.02
Eating Mipoint*	14.69±1.23	14.71±1.09	14.58±1.24^a,b	14.60±1.16	14.73±1.26^a	14.81±1.20^b	<0.001
Tertile 1	33.42	30.48	37.62	36.12	32.96	27.03	<0.001
Tertile 2	33.38	34.86	31.33	32.54	33.15	37.55
Tertile 3	33.19	34.66	31.05	31.34	33.89	35.42
Largest meal
Breakfast	5.80	5.64	8.09	5.50	5.22	3.33	0.001
Lunch	80.13	82.25	77.94	81.10	80.29	82.02
Dinner	8.38	6.26	9.27	6.22	8.59	8.66
None	5.51	5.85	4.63	6.70	5.72	5.73
Snacks	0.17	0.00	0.07	0.48	0.18	0.27

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[TFN1] Notes: BMI = Body Mass Index. MSFsc = Midpoint of Sleep on Free Days corrected for Sleep Extension on Free Days. Values are shown as means (±SDs) or percentages. P-values are derived from one-way ANOVA (for continuous variables) and the chi-square test (for categorical variables). When significant, differences among groups were explored using Bonferroni correction. ^a,b,cDifferent superscript letters indicate significant differences among groups with post hoc Bonferroni correction. Significant associations (P-values<0.05) are shown in bold.

[TFN2] Source: Authors.