Can we gain extra kilos if we eat dinner very shortly before going to sleep?

In countries like the United States, obesity affects approximately 42% of the adult population and contributes to the onset of chronic diseases, such as diabetes, cancer and other ailments. Although much research has shown that snacking at midnight after dinner contributes to weight gain, few studies have exhaustively investigated the simultaneous effects of eating late on the three main mechanisms of body weight regulation and, therefore, the risk of suffering from obesity. obesity: the regulation of calorie intake, the amount of calories burned, and molecular changes in adipose tissue.

A team that includes Nina Vujovic and Frank AJL Scheer, from the BWH (Brigham and Women’s Hospital) in Boston, United States, has carried out a detailed study on the effects on these three mechanisms.

Vujovic, Scheer, and their colleagues studied 16 patients with a body mass index (BMI) in the overweight or obese range. Each participant completed two lab protocols: one with a strict schedule of early meals, and the other with the exact same meals but each scheduled about four hours later in the day. This last protocol entailed having dinner very shortly before bedtime.

The results revealed that eating later had profound effects on hunger and the appetite-regulating hormones leptin and ghrelin, which influence our desire to eat. Specifically, levels of the hormone leptin, which drives satiety, decreased over 24 hours when following the late-eating protocol compared to following the early-eating protocol. When the participants ate later, they also burned calories at a slower rate, and the gene expression of their adipose tissue promoted increased adipogenesis and decreased lipolysis, all of which drive fat growth. The bottom line, in a nutshell, is that eating late increases the risk of being overweight and obese.

The habit of eating breakfast and lunch late, and especially having dinner very shortly before going to sleep, increases the risk of gaining extra kilos. (Photo: NPS/DJR)

The study is titled “Late isocaloric eating increases hunger, decreases energy expenditure, and modifies metabolic pathways in adults with overweight and obesity.” And it has been published in the academic journal Cell Metabolism. (Font: NCYT by Amazings)