This cross-sectional study of 1,047 Japanese adults investigated how chrononutrition behaviors—such as meal timing, eating frequency, and eating window—relate to diet quality and obesity, considering both dietary assessment method and energy intake (EI) misreporting. Chrononutrition data were collected via a newly developed Chrono-Nutrition Behavior Questionnaire (CNBQ) and 11-day food timing diaries, with diet quality measured using the Healthy Eating Index-2020 (HEI-2020) from a Meal-based Diet History Questionnaire (MDHQ) or 4-day weighed food diaries.
Key findings include:
Questionnaire-based analysis linked later eating times, higher snack frequency, and greater eating jetlag to poorer diet quality, and higher eating frequency and longer eating windows to greater odds of general and abdominal obesity—especially after adjusting for EI misreporting.
Diary-based analysis found little association between chrononutrition and obesity/diet quality, except for later eating times correlating with poorer diet quality.
EI underreporting was common and significantly altered obesity associations in questionnaire data, highlighting its importance in chrononutrition research.
The study emphasizes that chrononutrition research outcomes are highly dependent on the dietary assessment method used and that adjusting for EI misreporting is critical for accurate interpretation.