As individuals age, not only do their dietary preferences and quantities change, but also the timing of their meals. A recent study conducted by researchers at Mass General Brigham, in collaboration with other experts, has shed light on how meal timing in older adults correlates with health outcomes and longevity. Published in Communications Medicine, the study reveals that shifts in meal timing, particularly breakfast, could serve as indicators of overall health status in the elderly.
Dr. Hassan Dashti, PhD, RD, a nutrition scientist and circadian biologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, emphasizes the importance of these findings. “Our research suggests that changes in when older adults eat, especially the timing of breakfast, could serve as an easy-to-monitor marker of their overall health status. Patients and clinicians can possibly use shifts in mealtime routines as an early warning sign to look into underlying physical and mental health issues,” Dashti stated.
Understanding Meal Timing Shifts
The study, led by Dashti and senior author Altug Didikoglu, MSc, PhD, from the Izmir Institute of Technology in Turkey, delves into the intricacies of meal timing among aging populations. By analyzing data from 2,945 adults aged 42–94 in the UK over 20 years, the researchers found a trend where older adults tend to delay their breakfast and dinner times, while also reducing the overall window of eating each day.
Key findings highlight that later breakfast times are consistently linked with physical and mental health issues such as depression, fatigue, and oral health problems. Additionally, difficulties in meal preparation and poor sleep patterns were associated with delayed mealtimes. Notably, a later breakfast was tied to a higher risk of mortality during the study’s follow-up period.
“Up until now, we had a limited insight into how the timing of meals evolves later in life and how this shift relates to overall health and longevity,” said Dashti. “Our findings help fill that gap by showing that later meal timing, especially delayed breakfast, is tied to both health challenges and increased mortality risk in older adults.”
Implications for Health Strategies
The implications of these findings are significant, particularly as dietary trends like time-restricted eating and intermittent fasting gain traction. Dashti notes that the health impacts of shifting meal schedules may differ considerably between older and younger populations. Encouraging consistent meal schedules in older adults could become a vital component of strategies aimed at promoting healthy aging and longevity.
The study also highlights genetic predispositions, such as the “night owl” trait, where individuals with a tendency for later sleep and wake times also prefer later meal times. This genetic link suggests that personalized dietary recommendations could be beneficial in addressing meal timing issues in older adults.
Future Directions and Research
Looking ahead, the research team suggests further exploration into how meal timing interventions could be implemented in clinical settings to improve health outcomes in the elderly. The study’s authors, including Chloe Liu, Hao Deng, and Anushka Sharma from Mass General Brigham, advocate for more comprehensive studies to understand the broader implications of meal timing on aging populations.
This study was supported by the National Institute of Health under grant R00HL153795, underscoring the importance of continued research in this area. The findings offer a new perspective on the adage that “breakfast is the most important meal of the day,” particularly for older individuals, and pave the way for innovative approaches to dietary health in aging societies.
Paper cited: Dashti H. S. et al. “Meal timing trajectories in older adults and their associations with morbidity, genetic profiles, and mortality” Communications Medicine DOI: 10.1038/s43856-025-01035-x
