Eat earlier, eat more often? A Swedish study links meal timing with heart risk markers

An analysis published in the European Journal of Nutrition on 24 September 2026 used four-day online food records and fasting blood samples from 3,812 adults aged 18 to 75 in the Malmö Offspring Study in Sweden. It looked at when and how often people ate, how that related to cardiovascular risk factors, and, in a nested case-control analysis, whether meal timing was linked with later cardiovascular disease.

Each extra eating occasion in the day went with 15% lower odds of metabolic syndrome, and HDL cholesterol was highest at about 4.7 meals a day. Skipping breakfast went with higher total cholesterol (by 0.12 mmol/L) and, in men, higher LDL cholesterol. Each extra hour of eating window went with 7% lower odds of metabolic syndrome, while each hour later the first meal came went with 9% higher odds. Looking forward, a later energy midpoint was linked with 31% higher odds of cardiovascular disease, a borderline result.

These are associations, mostly measured at one point in time, so they cannot show that changing meal times changes risk. They also sit awkwardly with time-restricted eating, which shortens the eating window: in this population a longer window looked better. The consistent thread is earlier eating, with a regular breakfast and more of the day's food eaten earlier.