Eating late at night can lead to obesity

 Eating late can lead to weight gain - new research explains why

It has long been popular advice for those who want to lose weight to avoid eating dinner. It is not surprising, with many studies showing that eating dinner is associated with higher body weight and the risk of obesity. But so far, few studies have investigated exactly why eating dinner is associated with higher body weight. This is what American researchers recently tried to find out. They found that eating four hours later than usual altered several physiological and molecular pathways that promote weight gain.

This work adds to other recently published work showing that eating early is beneficial for controlling appetite and weight.

Research process:

To conduct their study, the researchers asked 16 participants to follow two different diets, each for a total of six days.
The first method asked the participants to eat their meal early in the morning, with the last meal eaten about six hours and 40 minutes before going to bed. The second phase asked participants to eat their entire daily meal approximately four hours later. This means they skip breakfast and eat lunch, dinner and evening meals instead. Their last meal is only two and a half hours before they go to sleep.
The study was conducted in a controlled laboratory, which ensured that the participants in each group ate a similar diet and that all their meals were evenly distributed over approximately four hours. To understand how early eating affects the body, the researchers looked at three different factors related to weight gain.

Feelings of hunger:

Hunger is measured using two methods. The first method involved asking participants to rate their hunger pangs throughout the day. The second method involves taking a blood sample to check the levels of hormones that control appetite, such as leptin (which helps us feel full) and ghrelin (which makes us hungry). These hormones are monitored hourly for 24 hours on days three and six of each test.

Evaluate:

To evaluate the effect of meal times on daily energy expenditure, a method called "indirect calorimetry" is used. This measures both the amount of oxygen a person uses and the amount of carbon dioxide they produce. This helps researchers to know how many calories a person consumes in a day. To investigate how late-night eating affects how the body stores fat at the molecular level, the researchers performed biopsies on fatty tissue taken from the abdomen. Only half of the participants agreed with this. The team found that compared to early eating patterns, late eating not only increased hunger the next day, but also increased levels of 'hunger' hormones in the blood - although participants ate similar foods in both regimens. Eating early also burns fewer calories the next day. In participants who had a fatty tissue biopsy, early eating was also shown to induce genetic changes that promote fat storage.
Together, these results show that late eating leads to a number of physiological and molecular changes that, over time, can lead to weight gain. Weight gain can

Although we do not fully understand all the mechanisms behind why eating dinner promotes weight gain, this study shows us that it may be due to several factors working together.

Importance of circadian rhythms:

One theory as to why eating late can cause weight gain may be due to our circadian rhythms. The human body has a natural circadian rhythm, which is controlled by the brain to regulate the flow of hormones. It is especially sensitive to daylight and feasting. The timing of eating is linked to circadian rhythms in humans, where we sleep when it's dark and eat when it's light. When we eat late, it can disrupt the body's circadian rhythm, disrupting the body's hunger signals and how it uses calories to store fat. However, this link has only been demonstrated in animal studies so far.

Conclusion:

Since the new study was conducted only with a small number of participants and a short period of time, more research is needed to better understand whether these changes are only temporary and the long-term effects of eating at night can have on these things, the income generation process. But we know from other studies that late night eaters are also more likely to gain weight quickly.
Other large-scale studies investigating the relationship between mealtimes and energy balance (such as skipping breakfast, eating dinner, and shift work) have shown that these eating habits are associated with higher body weight and obesity problems.