[Chrononutrition and metabolic health: impact of meal timing on obesity and metabolic risk].

Scientific evidence suggests that it is not only the quality of the diet and the quantity of food that influence body weight and metabolic health, but also the time at which food is consumed. Chrononutrition is an emerging branch of chronobiology that studies how the timing of food intake interacts with the body's biological rhythms, particularly circadian rhythms. The aim of this paper is to review the current evidence on chrononutrition and its relationship with obesity and metabolic health. Individual chronotype and the duration of the eating window have been linked to obesity, metabolic syndrome and dietary quality. Evening chronotypes have been associated with a higher prevalence of overweight, poorer dietary habits and greater irregularity in eating patterns. Furthermore, late-night eating, particularly during the night, and a prolonged eating window, may be linked to metabolic abnormalities such as increased insulin resistance, greater abdominal adiposity and a poorer lipid profile.