Citation: Nikkhah A. Maternal and Pediatric Obesity Prevention by Early Dinner and Late Breakfast: Insights from Livestock. Diabetes Obes Int J 2017, 2(3): 000154.
*Corresponding author: Akbar Nikkhah, Department of Animal Sciences, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Zanjan, Chief Highly Distinguished Professor, Foremost Principal Highly Distinguished Elite-Generating Scientist, National Elite Foundation, Iran Email: anikkha@yahoo.com
Obesity particularly in abdominal and visceral regions is a rising concern. Practical maternal prevention strategies are required to reduce costs of morbidity and mortality. This article describes relatively early dinner and late breakfast as a practical strategy to prevent maternal and pediatric obesity. The strategy is feasible since it has minimal challenges in practicing. With the elongated fasting time, this strategy should help to prevent maternal and pediatric obesity providing the amounts eaten are properly restricted and managed.
Keywords: Obesity; Supper; Breakfast; Timing; Pediatrics
Obesity is a rising human concern as it predisposes the body to a variety of health problems worldwide [1,2]. The objective of this article is to introduce a feasible practical strategy to reduce maternal and paediatric obesity based on taking early dinner and late breakfast. The terms 'early' and 'late' are relative and should not be interpreted overly much, such that supper and breakfast are still taken in their appropriate times of the day and not interfere with lunch. The ideology originates from findings in livestock that night feeding affects endocrinology and metabolism when compared to morning feeding [3,4].
Early dinner helps avoid overloading the body with nutrients late overnight when glucose tolerance decreases and insulin resistance increases [5,6]. Relatively late breakfast elongates the fasting duration and helps to mobilize peripheral and visceral fats in a controlled fashion. Since the most of the time interval between dinner and breakfast is spent sleeping, it has little suboptimal effects on normal routines of lifestyle and all age groups should be able to easily adopt the program.
Care must be exercised to not over eat at both dinner and breakfast to allow the real effects to be shown over time. This involves meal optimization and is related to optimal timing of meals [7,8]. A simple rule of thumb is to stop eating before feeling full [9]. This will prevent overeating and will allow the consequences to be realized within a short period of time. The result will be reduced obesity for obese individual and prevented obesity for normal individuals. The goal is to live on optimal rhythms of life and be adequately close to natural rhythms of life [2]. Successful practice of the strategy requires victorious public education [10].
ConclusionThis article described a feasible strategy to help prevent maternal and pediatric obesity based on taking early dinner and late breakfast. The strategy should allow the body to better synchronize its internal rhythms with external rhythms.
AcknowledgmentThanks to the Ministry of Science Research and Technology, University of Zanjan, and National Elite Foundation for supporting the author’s global programs of optimizing science edification in the third millennium.