A personalized nutrition intervention advances meal timing and is associated with reduced postprandial lipid and inflammatory responses in night shift workers

Abstract

Night work disrupts circadian rhythms and alters glucose homeostasis, increasing long term cardiometabolic risk. Although nutritional interventions show beneficial short-term effects under controlled conditions, evidence from real life settings in night shift workers remains limited. In a non-randomized controlled intervention study, healthy male night shift workers aged 18 to 60 years participated in a three-month personalized nutrition intervention following a one-month run-in period. Personalization was based on demographic characteristics combined with postprandial metabolic responses to a standardized mixed meal tolerance test. Advice focused on advancing the timing of energy intake, redistributing daily caloric and macronutrient intake to align with endogenous circadian rhythms during night shifts. Controls continued habitual dietary behavior. Food intake was assessed using a digital food diary, and diet quality by using the Dutch Healthy Eating Index at baseline, intervention start and intervention end. Postprandial cardiometabolic and inflammatory responses were assessed before and after intervention using a standardized mixed-meal challenge test, including glucose, insulin, cholesterol, triglycerides, and a panel of inflammatory markers. Participants wore a blinded continuous glucose monitoring device for 14 days at baseline, start and end of intervention. In the nutrition intervention group ( n  = 22), the timing of total energy intake during night shifts advanced by 150 min at intervention start and 88 min at intervention end, compared with baseline. Total energy intake and diet quality remained unchanged, and no dietary changes were observed in controls. Postprandial total, LDL and HDL cholesterol levels responses were reduced following the intervention, while postprandial glucose, insulin and triglyceride responses did not change. Postprandial responses of several inflammatory markers, including IL-10, IL-8, E-selectin, ICAM-1 and TNF-α were lower after the intervention. Continuous glucose monitoring-derived metrics showed modest changes, suggesting alterations in glucose dynamics without improvements in overall glucose control. A three-month personalized nutrition intervention targeting meal timing and macronutrient distribution in night shift workers advanced the timing of energy intake and was associated with reduced postprandial lipid and inflammatory responses. These findings suggest that modifying meal timing and macronutrient distribution may support cardiometabolic health in real-world night work settings. ClinicalTrials.gov , identifier NCT06147089.