Introduction
obesity, cardiometabolic diseases, adiposity, high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, disability
OBESITY, JET LAG, ADIPOSITY, INSULIN RESISTANCE
The obesity epidemic is one of the leading contributors to the global burden of cardiometabolic diseases and disability, resulting in a significant economic impact on health care systems [The importance of when we eat is tied to our circadian system, which temporally orchestrates numerous metabolic processes across the body over a 24 h period [Epidemiological data have shown that eating late in the day is associated with greater energy intake, adiposity and worst cardiometabolic health [Our study was aimed at elucidating the association of meal timing [i.e., eating window, caloric midpoint (the time at which ≥ 50% of daily calories are consumed), eating jet lag, time from midsleep point to first food intake, and time from last food intake to midsleep point] with anthropometry [i.e., body weight, BMI and waist circumference], body composition [i.e., fat mass, lean mass, and visceral adipose tissue (VAT) mass] and cardiometabolic risk factors [i.e., blood pressure, triglycerides, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C), insulin resistance] in young adults. Special attention was paid to the influence of sex on these associations. We hypothesized that a shorter daily eating window, earlier food intake schedule and less variability in meal timing between non-working days and working days would be associated with healthier body composition and cardiometabolic risk factors.