Evening eating and its relation to self-reported body weight and nutrient intake in women, CSFII 1985-86.

OBJECTIVE We investigated the association of extent of daily energy intake from evening food intake with self-reported body weight and nutrient intake. DESIGN Using data from the 1985-86 CSFII, we estimated the proportion of daily energy from foods/beverages reportedly consumed after 5 p.m. on 4 non-consecutive days by 1802 women, aged 19-50 years. RESULTS The mean +/- SE of 4-day average energy from evening food intake was 46 +/- 0.4%. Body mass index was not associated with percent energy from evening food intake in unadjusted or multiple-covariate-adjusted regression analyses. In multiple-covariate-adjusted regression models, percent energy from fat, protein, and grams of alcohol reported were positively associated with percent energy from evening food intake (p < 0.05); while percent energy from carbohydrate, and percent RDA of vitamins C, B-6, and folate were inversely associated with evening eating. CONCLUSIONS The results do not support the hypothesis regarding the association of relative weight with percent energy from evening food intake. However, statistically significant differences in intake of some nutrients in relation to extent of evening food intake were noted.