Importance of Nutrient Intake Timing

[Titus]

"When speaking of nutrition for improving body composition or athletic performance, it's crucial to realize there's an underlying hierarchy of importance. At the top of the hierarchy of effects is total amount of the macronutrients by the end of the day. Below that - and I mean distantly below that - is the precise timing of those nutrients. With very few exceptions...athletes and active individuals eat multiple times per day, to the tune of at least four meals. Thus, the majority of their day is spent in the postprandial rather than post-absorptive state. The vast majority of nutrient timing studies have been done on overnight-fasted subjects, which obviously limits the applicability of the studies' conclusions. Pre-exercise (and/or during-exercise) nutrient intake often has a lingering carry-over effect into the post-exercise period.Throughout the day, there's a constant overlap of meal absorption. For this reason, nutrient timing is not a strategy that's only effective if done with chronometer-like precision." - Alan Aragon, M.S (2008)