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Late-night eating associated with chronic health problems

Eating late at night, compared with earlier in the day, caused a series of adverse effects, according to findings presented at Sleep 2017, the Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies.

“The metabolic consequences of a consistent, prolonged delayed eating pattern compared with a daytime one, are unknown,” Namni Goel, PhD, research associate professor, division of sleep and chronobiology, University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues wrote.

To gather more data, Goel and colleagues had eight participants follow a daytime eating routine of three meals and two snacks consumed between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. for 8 weeks. After a 2-week period to allow measures to return to baseline, participants spent another 8 weeks following a delayed eating routine of three meals and two snacks consumed between 12 p.m. and 11 p.m.). According to researchers, energy and macronutrient content were comparable, exercise levels were controlled, and the sleep-wake cycle was held constant from 11 p.m. and 7 a.m between conditions. Half of the participants were women, and the mean age of all participants was 26.25 years, and they had a mean BMI of 22.39 kg/m².

Researchers assessed adiposity, energy metabolism, hormonal markers and weight at baseline, after the first eating condition, after the washout period before the second eating condition began, and after the second eating condition.

Goel and colleagues found that preliminary analyses showed the delayed eating routine led to increases in weight, respiratory quotient, insulin and cholesterol levels, as well as a decrease in adiponectin. In addition, the ghrelin phase was delayed with greater amplitude, while the melatonin phase and amplitude remained unchanged.

“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,” Kelly Allison, PhD, director, Center for Weight and Eating Disorders, University of Pennsylvania, said in a press release. “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.”

This is the first long-term study looking at the timing of eating patterns that also controlled for exercise, macronutrient intake, and sleep-wake cycles to establish the effects of prolonged eating at different times of day, according to a press release. – by Janel Miller

Reference: Goel N, et al. “Delayed eating adversely impacts weight and metabolism compared with daytime eating in normal weight adults.” Sleep 2017, the Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies; June 3-7; Boston.

Disclosure: Healio Family Medicine was unable to determine researchers’ relevant financial disclosures prior to publication.