Current dietary trends show that humans consume up to 40% of their energy intake during the night. Those who habitually eat during the night are observed to have an increased risk of metabolic conditions such as type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Increasing evidence suggest that a biological consequence of eating during the night is a larger postprandial glucose response, compared to meals eaten earlier in the day. However, findings from individual acute postprandial studies have been inconsistent, due to variations in protocols. Therefore, this review aimed to systematically summarize findings from acute postprandial studies and investigate whether postprandial glucose and insulin response at night differs to during the day in healthy adults. This would indicate a possible physiological mechanism linking habitual nighttime eating and increased risk of metabolic conditions. Seven electronic databases were searched in February 2018. Included studies met the following criteria: had a day-time test between 0700 - 1600h, a nighttime test between 2000 and 0400h, the test meals were identical and consumed by the same participant at both day and night time points, preceded by a 3-h fast (minimum). Primary outcome measures were postprandial glucose and insulin incremental area under the curve (iAUC) or area under the curve (AUC). Studies that reported numerical data were included in the meta-analyses, conducted using Stata statistical software (version 13.0, StataCorp, College Station, TX, USA). For eligible studies that did not report numerical data, their authors' conclusions on the effect of time of day on the primary outcome measures were summarized qualitatively. Full text of 172 articles were assessed for eligibility. Fifteen studies met the eligibility criteria, ten of which were included in the meta-analyses. Meta-analysis for glucose showed a lower postprandial glucose response in the day compared to during the night, after an identical meal (SMD = -1.66; 95% CI, -1.97 to -1.36; p < .001). This was supported by the findings from included studies ineligible for meta-analysis. Meta-analysis also showed a lower postprandial insulin response in the day compared to during the night (SMD = -0.35; 95% CI, -0.63 to -0.06; p = .016). However, findings from included studies ineligible for meta-analysis were inconsistent. Our results suggest poor glucose tolerance at night compared to the day. This may be a contributing factor to the increased risk of metabolic diseases observed in those who habitually eat during the night, such as shift workers.

中文翻译：

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餐后血糖和胰岛素反应的时间差异：急性餐后研究的系统评价和荟萃分析。

当前的饮食趋势表明，人类在夜间消耗高达 40% 的能量摄入。据观察，那些习惯在夜间进食的人患代谢疾病的风险增加，例如 2 型糖尿病和心血管疾病。越来越多的证据表明，与白天早些时候吃的食物相比，夜间进食的生物学后果是更大的餐后葡萄糖反应。然而，由于方案不同，个别急性餐后研究的结果不一致。因此，本综述旨在系统总结急性餐后研究的结果，并调查健康成人夜间餐后血糖和胰岛素反应是否不同于白天。这将表明一种可能的生理机制，将习惯性夜间进食与代谢疾病风险增加联系起来。2018 年 2 月搜索了 7 个电子数据库。纳入的研究符合以下标准：在 0700 至 1600 小时之间进行了白天测试，在 2000 至 0400 小时之间进行了夜间测试，测试膳食相同且由同一参与者在白天和夜间时间点，然后禁食 3 小时（最少）。主要结果测量是餐后葡萄糖和胰岛素增加的曲线下面积（iAUC）或曲线下面积（AUC）。使用 Stata 统计软件（13.0 版，StataCorp，College Station，TX，USA）进行的荟萃分析包括报告数值数据的研究。对于未报告数值数据的符合条件的研究，其作者的 定性总结了关于一天中时间对主要结果测量的影响的结论。对 172 篇文章的全文进行了资格评估。15 项研究符合资格标准，其中 10 项被纳入荟萃分析。对葡萄糖的荟萃分析显示，与在同一餐后的夜间相比，白天的餐后葡萄糖反应较低（SMD = -1.66；95% CI，-1.97 至 -1.36；p < .001）。这得到了不符合荟萃分析条件的纳入研究结果的支持。Meta 分析还显示，与夜间相比，白天的餐后胰岛素反应较低（SMD = -0.35；95% CI，-0.63 至 -0.06；p = .016）。然而，不符合荟萃分析条件的纳入研究的结果不一致。我们的结果表明，与白天相比，夜间的葡萄糖耐量较差。