The Faculty of Public Health (FPH) Universitas Indonesia (UI) hosted the 27th Online Seminar in the Public Health Nutrition’s Online Guest Lecturer Series, titled “Unravelling Current Issues Related to Obesity” on November 15, 2024. The event featured Dr. Satvinder Kaur, an Associate Professor from the Department of Food Science and Nutrition at UCSI University, Malaysia, as the keynote speaker. The seminar was attended by over 150 students from the Bachelor’s program in Nutrition and the Master’s program in Public Health Nutrition, with Dr. Fathimah S. Sigit, Ph.D., Chair of the Department of Nutrition at FPH UI, acting as the moderator.
In her presentation, Dr. Satvinder Kaur emphasized the importance of maintaining a consistent daily rhythm for eating and fasting. According to her, a regular daily rhythm can improve the body’s metabolic pathways, enhance circadian rhythms, and support the effectiveness of pharmacotherapy, especially for individuals with metabolic disorders such as obesity. Dr. Kaur further explained that the metabolic process after eating shows significant time variations. “In the morning, the body tends to have faster gastric emptying, better intestinal absorption, higher glucose tolerance, and greater energy expenditure, known as the Thermic Effect of Food (TEF),” Dr. Kaur explained. Several factors contribute to the higher TEF in the morning, including greater energy requirements at this time, increased sympathetic nervous system activity, larger meal portions, and the endogenous circadian rhythm’s influence.
Additionally, the timing of meals significantly impacts the body’s metabolism and the risk of obesity. One key finding was significant weight loss in individuals who consumed 50% of their daily energy intake at breakfast, coupled with smaller evening meals. This eating pattern also led to greater satiety compared to consuming larger calorie amounts at night. The circadian rhythm’s role was also found to influence Diet-Induced Thermogenesis (DIT), or energy expenditure resulting from food digestion. Research has shown that DIT is higher when food is consumed in the morning compared to at night. This effect is influenced by the body’s endogenous circadian system and is not solely due to behavioral factors such as the sleep-wake cycle. However, short-term circadian misalignment does not significantly impact DIT, but it remains important to pay attention to meal timing to maintain metabolic balance.
Other research results presented by Dr. Kaur also showed that metabolic responses such as glucose and insulin levels were higher at night than in the morning. “This indicates lower glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity at night, meaning late-night food consumption can lead to postprandial hyperglycemia,” Dr. Kaur stated. This phenomenon is exacerbated by irregular eating patterns, modern lifestyles, and shift work activities.
The phenomenon of eating jetlag, which involves mismatched eating patterns between weekdays and weekends, also contributes to internal misalignment in the body. The differences in meal timing, especially at breakfast, can increase the risk of obesity due to disruptions in the body’s metabolic rhythm. With the trend towards later meal times, the risk of metabolic disturbances becomes even higher.
This seminar provided valuable insights for students and nutrition practitioners to understand the close relationship between the body’s biological rhythms and obesity management. Through a timely-based approach, obesity management can be carried out more effectively, both through preventive and therapeutic interventions. The 27th SEMOL series is part of FPH UI’s efforts to strengthen students’ understanding of current issues in public health nutrition. Through collaboration with international academics such as Dr. Satvinder Kaur, this seminar not only enriched academic knowledge but also provided a global perspective on managing public health challenges. (DFD)