Meal timing to lower health risks from night shift work
Food Timing to Mitigate Adverse Consequences of Night Work
This project will see whether eating only during your body's daytime helps night shift workers keep blood sugar and other metabolic measures healthier.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Brigham and Women's Hospital NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Boston, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11131254 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
If you work nights, researchers will ask you to follow a specific daily eating schedule timed to your biological daytime while they monitor your health. The team will use sleep and activity tracking, blood tests for glucose and other metabolic markers, and controlled feeding or meal-timing guidance over multiple days or weeks. Previous lab work showed the idea can work but used meal times that fell during sleep, so this study tests a more practical meal schedule that night workers could actually follow. The researchers aim to find a workable routine that reduces the metabolic harms linked to shift work.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal candidates are adults who work night shifts or have chronic circadian misalignment and are concerned about or at risk for adult-onset (type 2) diabetes.
Not a fit: People with type 1 diabetes, those unable to change when they eat, or those who cannot attend study visits are unlikely to benefit directly from joining this project.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this approach could help night shift workers lower their risk of developing adult-onset diabetes and improve blood sugar control.
How similar studies have performed: Animal studies and tightly controlled human lab experiments suggest timing food to the biological day can help metabolism, but real-world, practical tests in night workers remain limited.
Where this research is happening
Boston, United States
- Brigham and Women's Hospital — Boston, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Scheer, Frank a — Brigham and Women's Hospital
- Study coordinator: Scheer, Frank a
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.