Health

Eating Late At Night Can Make You Gain Weight

9th June 2017

By Harriet Mallinson | Published on June 9, 2017


When you get home late at night or are working the graveyard shift, it is incredibly tempting to give in to hunger cravings and eat whatever takes your fancy in the kitchen.

However, new findings suggest that eating late at night could be more dangerous that you think, leading to increased weight, insulin and cholesterol levels.

The study, carried out by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, is the first long-term analysis of its kind, offering experimental evidence on the metabolic consequences of consistent delayed eating.

“We know from our sleep loss studies that when you’re sleep deprived, it negatively affects weight and metabolism in part due to late-night eating,” said Namni Goel, research associate professor of psychology and lead author, “but now these early findings, which control for sleep, give a more comprehensive picture of the benefits of eating earlier in the day.”

“Eating later can promote a negative profile of weight, energy, and hormone markers such as higher glucose and insulin, which are implicated in diabetes, and cholesterol and triglycerides, which are linked with cardiovascular problems and other health conditions.”

The study saw nine healthy weight adults eating three meals and two snacks between 8pm and 7pm for eight weeks and then eating the same again from noon to 11 pm for a further eight weeks.

To make sure there was no carry over effect there was a two-week washout period between conditions. The sleep period, between 11pm to 9am, was held constant throughout.

 

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At the very beginning and after each stage of the investigation, the participants’ metabolic measure and blood were drawn in order for the team to look at changes in weight, metabolism and energy used.

The results of the study proved that when participants ate later in the evening their weight increased.

Moreover, it showed that later eating led to metabolizing fewer lipids (fats) and more carbs while negative metabolic profiles increased in the delayed condition, including insulin, fasting glucose, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels.

Meanwhile, a 24-hour hormonal profile during daytime eating indicated that the hormone ghrelin, which stimulates appetite, peaked earlier in the daytime, while leptin, which keeps you satiated, peaked later. This suggests that eating earlier can help you to stay satiated longer and prevent overeating in the evening and at night.

“While lifestyle change is never easy, these findings suggest that eating earlier in the day may be worth the effort to help prevent these detrimental chronic health effects,” said Kelly Allison, associate professor of psychology, director of the Center for Weight and Eating Disorders and senior author on the study.

“We have an extensive knowledge of how overeating affects health and body weight, but now we have a better understanding of how our body processes foods at different times of day over a long period of time.”