A very detailed document from Anses explains at what time of day you should avoid overeating.
- Anses has issued new recommendations regarding the daily food intake of the French.
- In particular, it recommends having an early dinner in the evening.
- “These recommendations concern the general population in good health, excluding pregnant or breastfeeding women and the elderly,” she specifies.
How to spread your meals throughout the day to be as healthy as possible? ANSES partially answers this question in a new report focused on chrononutrition.
“In its expertise, ANSES analyzed all the scientific literature relating to chrononutrition, both on the aspects linked to biological mechanisms and to epidemiological relationships” the health agency said in a press release. “Following this work, she notes the lack of robust research in this area and therefore underlines the importance of conducting studies specifically designed to define the relationships between the temporal distribution of food intake and the effects on health.” she adds.
“However, the available data indicate that there is a link between a high energy intake in the evening and an increased risk of obesity.” she continues.
It is best to have an “early dinner”
As a result, ANSES issues the following recommendations:
– favor an early evening dinner;
– favor an interval between dinner and bedtime of at least 2 hours for adults;
– favor a prolonged night-time fast followed by breakfast;
– reduce caloric intake in the evening (dinner and snacks) by favoring their redistribution in the morning (at breakfast).
“These recommendations concern the general population in good health, excluding pregnant or breastfeeding women and the elderly. They are not intended for sick people or individuals seeking to lose/gain weight,” specify the authors of the report.
“The application of these recommendations must take into account the nutritional status of the individual as well as the risk of malnutrition and deficiencies, particularly in people with a poor appetite or difficulty in consuming sufficient meals.”they also believe.
33.8% of the French people’s daily energy intake is consumed at dinner
“Eating after dinner (in the evening or at night) is common in 10% of children and 30% of adults,” can be read in the second part of the document devoted to the culinary habits of the French.
In our country, food consumption is distributed continuously among adults over a period from 6 am to around midnight. However, there are three periods during which the number of food intakes is higher: a period between 12 pm and 1:30 pm which may correspond to lunch, another between 7 pm and 9:30 pm which may correspond to dinner and another between 4 pm and 5:30 pm which may correspond to a snack. “It is difficult to identify a specific period that may correspond to breakfast for adults under 65 years of age”, specifies the report.
“In France, 17% of daily energy intake is consumed at breakfast, 35.7% at lunch, 4% at snack time, 33.8% at dinner, 3.2% as an aperitif and 6.2% on other occasions,” he ends.
