<p><b>BACKGROUND AND AIMS: </b>The favorable meal timing for glycemic control in individuals with diabetes remains unclear. The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the prospective association of meal timing with hemoglobin A1C (HbA1c) in individuals with diabetes. The secondary aim was to evaluate associations of meal timing with other cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors, including triglycerides, low-density and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C, HDL-C), and systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP, DBP).</p><p><b>METHODS: </b>This cohort study included participants with diabetes at baseline (2008-2011) and attending visit 2 examination (2014-2017). Baseline dietary intakes were assessed using two 24-h dietary recalls. Linear regression was performed to estimate prospective associations of energy intake (EI) and glycemic load (GL) at each meal timing with HbA1c and other CVD risk factors at visit 2.</p><p><b>RESULTS: </b>This study included 1740 participants (mean age: 52.8 years; 59.2% female). Meal timings were associated with HbA1c and CVD risk factors, but in different directions and varied by sex and antidiabetic medication use. For HbA1c, there were generally inverse associations with morning meals, particular early-morning meal (6:00-8:59 AM) in males [EI: percent change, -2.86 (95% CI, -5.48 to -0.17)] and late-morning meal (9:00-11:59 AM) in individuals without antidiabetic medication use [EI: -2.83 (-5.49 to -0.09); GL: -3.31 (-6.46 to -0.05)]. For triglyceride, inverse associations were found for early-morning meals, whereas positive associations were found for afternoon meals (12:00-5:59 PM) in females and individuals without antidiabetic medication use. For LDL-C, positive associations were found for evening meals (6:00-11:59 PM) in individuals without antidiabetic medication use. There were overall positive associations of afternoon meal with SBP and DBP.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION: </b>A greater proportion of daily energy intake or glycemic load consumed during morning meals was associated with lower HbA1c levels and more favorable cardiovascular risk factor profiles in individuals with diabetes. Medication use and sex should be considered when discussing potential meal-timing recommendations.</p>