Breakfast, Lunch, Or Dinner? Which Meal Matters Most For Brain Health? by mindbodygreen

 Good news for me, dinner is usually my only meal. A 12cup pot of coffee until then.

Breakfast, Lunch, Or Dinner? Which Meal Matters Most For Brain Health?

At mindbodygreen, we talk about the connection between diet and brain health all the time. What you eat impacts brain structure, function, and cognitive health (short-term and long-term). Now, new research1 suggests that when you eat it that may matter most for your memory.

Here's what meal has the most influence on cognition, as well as what foods help (or hurt) your brain power.

About the study

Researchers set out to answer a question, "Do dietary patterns at specific meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) affect memory differently than overall diet?"

To find out, they analyzed meal-specific eating patterns and measured two types of memory.

Subjective memory is how participants perceived their own memory.

Episodic memory is actual recall performance on cognitive tests.

And rather than looking at diet as a whole, they broke it down by meal timing.

Dinner was linked to the most brain benefits

The meal that showed the strongest associations with memory outcomes was dinner. Results showed that what people ate in the evening had a more pronounced impact on cognitive performance than their breakfast or lunch choices, or even their overall dietary patterns.

The study revealed several notable patterns about evening meals and brain health.

Western-style dietary patterns were linked to poorer memory performance overall. This includes meals with little fiber, very large portions of animal proteins, and added sugars.

Cheese consumption was the strongest predictor of poorer subjective memory. This is interesting because another recent study found that cheese consumption was linked to a lower risk of dementia. Although the benefits of cheese may also come down to the quality and amount consumed.

Milk-based products and sweets were most detrimental for episodic memory (actual recall ability).

Younger adults showed the strongest negative effects, suggesting early dietary habits may have immediate cognitive consequences.

So, should we just avoid animal proteins and opt for plants? Nope! The results also showed that simply following a plant-based diet didn't automatically protect against the negative effects of unhealthy supper choices. And previous research even shows that including meat in your diet may help slow brain aging.

What does this mean? It's not about eliminating meat in favor of plants. You need to eat a balanced plate with fiber, quality protein, and limited amounts of added sugar.

How to structure your evening meals

Strategically structuring your evening meals can help fuel your brain and make sure you stay full and satisfied until your morning meal.

Pair with fiber-rich foods: When you do have cheese or dairy at dinner, make sure it acts as an addition to fiber-rich foods (like vegetables, legumes, whole grains). Sometimes, dairy can sit heavy in the digestive tract, and fiber helps keeps things moving as they should. Most of us aren't eating nearly enough fiber anyway, so this is a win-win.

Be mindful of portions: When it comes to foods like animal proteins and dairy, portion size is key. A modest one-ounce serving of good cheese alongside a fiber-rich salad is very different from a cheese-heavy pasta as the main event. And for animal proteins, aim to find a portion size that still provides enough protein, but doesn't go overboard. For many folks that may be around 3 to 6-ounces of poultry, beef or fish.

Consider timing: Give yourself adequate time to digest before bed. A lighter, earlier supper may support both your sleep and your brain, and research shows your sleep patterns can reveal a lot about your brain's age.

Swap strategically for dessert: If you have a sweet tooth, reach for something like berries with a square of dark chocolate instead of processed sweets. You'll get satisfy your sweet tooth, yet the sugar won't keep you from falling asleep. These fruits can actually help you fall asleep.

The takeaway

This research offers a fresh lens on brain health. And while your overall diet is important, dinner may play an especially vital role on your cognition. Tonight, start with adding an extra serving of vegetables to your dinner plate. Your brain may thank you for it.

Meal Timing in Older Adults May Signal Health Risks: Study Finds

 I'm not worrying about this, breakfast might not be until 10:30, bedtime 2-3am then I skip lunch so I can have drinks at my social nights.

Meal Timing in Older Adults May Signal Health Risks: Study Finds

Meal planning, timing may affect CHD risk, related risk factors

I bet your doctor will do NOTHING with this until  SOMEONE ELSE SOLVES THE PROBLEM.
Yes this is not fully proven yet but is your doctor willing to try stuff that might help you? Not to be done on your own. Way too dangerous. 

Meal planning, timing may affect CHD risk, related risk factors

St-Onge MP, et al. Circulation. 2017;doi:10.1161/CIR.0000000000000476.

January 30, 2017

Meal frequency and timing have an effect on CHD and related risk factors, according to a new American Heart Association scientific statement.

See Also

• Skipping meals increased obesity, cardiometabolic risks ...
• After-dinner exercise decreases CVD risk in type 2 diabetes
• Eating home-prepared meals more frequently lowers diabetes ...

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Marie-Pierre St-Onge, PhD, associate professor of nutritional medicine at Columbia University and chair of the group that wrote the statement, and colleagues provided a summary of the current scientific evidence on when and how often people eat and the effects of eating patterns on risk for MI, obesity, diabetes and other factors.
“Meal timing may affect health due to its impact on the body’s internal clock,” St-Onge said in a press release. “In animal studies, it appears that when animals receive food while in an inactive phase, such as when they are sleeping, their internal clocks are reset in a way that can alter nutrient metabolism, resulting in greater weight gain, insulin resistance and inflammation. However, more research would need to be done in humans before that could be stated as a fact.”
Breakfast skipping
Skipping breakfast was associated with poorer cardiometabolic health across several studies.
According to one study, 74% of people who skipped breakfast did not meet two-thirds of the recommended dietary allowance for vitamins and minerals vs. 41% of those who ate breakfast. The study also showed that young adults who skipped breakfast were more likely to have a greater total energy intake from added sugars vs. those who ate breakfast.
Skipping breakfast also is associated with higher BMI globally, St-Onge and colleagues wrote. For example, a meta-analysis of 19 studies (n = 19,108) in the Asian and Pacific regions showed the group with the lowest frequency of breakfast consumption had greater prevalence of overweight or obesity vs. the group with the highest frequency of breakfast consumption (OR = 1.75; 95% CI, 1.57-1.95).
Studies also have shown that breakfast skipping is associated with impaired glucose metabolism, greater risk for diagnosed type 2 diabetes and higher risk for CHD and CVD, according to the researchers.
Individuals who ate breakfast daily were less likely to have elevated serum LDL, low serum HDL and elevated BP, St-Onge and colleagues wrote.
“On the basis of the combined epidemiological and clinical intervention data, daily breakfast consumption among U.S. adults may decrease the risk of adverse effects related to glucose and insulin metabolism,” the researchers wrote. “In addition, comprehensive dietary counseling that supports daily breakfast consumption may be helpful in promoting healthy dietary habits throughout the day.”
Meal timing and frequency
Studies also have shown that greater frequency of eating is associated with lower risk for obesity. In one study, participants who ate at least four times a day had an OR for obesity of 0.55 (95% CI, 0.33-0.91) vs. participants who ate three or fewer times per day, after adjustments for age, sex, physical activity and total energy intake.
Related studies also have shown that greater frequency of eating is associated with lower mean total cholesterol and LDL, according to the researchers.
Late-night eating has been associated with a greater risk for poor cardiometabolic health, St-Onge and colleagues wrote. For example, a Swedish study found that late-night eaters were more likely to be obese (OR = 1.62; 95% CI, 1.1-2.39) vs. non-late-night eaters.
“The impact of meal timing, particularly related to the evening meal, deserves further study,” the researchers wrote. “Epidemiological findings suggest a potential detrimental effect of late meals on cardiometabolic health, but clinical intervention studies, which would address causality, have been limited in scope and too diverse to draw definitive conclusions and make recommendations.”
Recommendations for further study
Because of the wide variation between definitions of meals and snacks across the studies, the researchers made recommendations to maintain consistency.
“On the basis of the current information, we propose that eating occasions be defined as any eating/drinking episode providing at least 210 kJ and that 15 minutes should be the minimum amount of time elapsed between separate occasions,” the researchers wrote. “Distinguishing between meals and snacks should be left to the participant’s discretion. This will provide a definition that accommodates different social norms and cultural behaviors.”
The researchers also made recommendations about what interventions may be beneficial.
“Although more direct translational research is still needed, these data suggest that intervening on meal timing and frequency may be beneficial,” the researchers wrote. “By focusing on meal frequency and timing as an intervention target, patients may directly address poor dietary quality without the need to deal with calorie restriction to promote weight loss.”
More data are needed to understand how intermittent fasting and eating speed may have an effect on weight and CHD risk factors, St-Onge and colleagues wrote. Additionally, special populations were underrepresented in the available data. The researchers recommended studies include considerations for racial/ethnic disparities in obesity and incidence of CVD, as well as children, adolescents and the elderly.
“We suggest eating mindfully, by paying attention to planning both what you eat and when you eat meals and snacks, to combat emotional eating,” St-Onge said in the release. “Many people find that emotions can trigger eating episodes when they are not hungry, which often leads to eating too many calories from foods that have low nutritional value.” – by Cassie Homer