The relationship between dietary phytochemical intake and circadian rhythm in women

The study has conducted with 180 volunteer women between June 2023 and December 2023. A food frequency questionnaire was used to determine the phytochemical intake of the participants, and a morning-evening questionnaire (Morningness Eveningness Questionnairre-MEQ) was used to determine their circadian rhythms in a face-to-face survey. The dietary phytochemical index (FI) tertiles, and circadian rhythms of the participants, who were divided into groups according to body mass index (BMI), were determined. Energy, carbohdyrate, protein, fat, fiber, sucrose, cholesterol, saturated fatty acid, monounsaturated fatty acid, and polyunsaturated fatty acid intakes of overweight and obese participants have found to be significantly higher than normal-weight participants (p<0.05). The average dietary FI of normal-weight participants (35.06±10.84) was lower than the average dietary FI of overweight and obese participants (38.54±10.89) (p=0,016). Energy, carbohydrate, protein and fat intakes of the participants were found to be significantly different between tertiles (p<0.05). Fat, cholesterol and saturated fat intakes of individuals in the normal BMI group were highest in the first tertile (p<0.05), while fat, fiber, polyunsaturated fatty acids, omega-3, omega-6 and vitamin E intakes of participants in the overweight and obese group were highest in the third tertile (p<0.05). The median MEQ score of normal-weight individuals was 50.0 (29.0-68.0), and the median MEQ score of individuals in the overweight and obese group was 53,0 (22.0-73.0) (p=0.103). The majority of the chronotypes of individuals in the normal-weight group and individuals in the overweight and obese group (63.33% and 72.22%, respectively) determined as intermediate chronotype (p=0.104). As a result, the dietary phytochemical intakes of overweight and obese participants are much more higher than those of normal-weight participants, but no significant relationship between dietary FI and MEQ scoring was found (p>0,05). Key Words: Obesity, Phytochemical, Phytochemical Index, Circadian Rhytm