Late-night snacking can make you fat

Most of the major studies on late-night eating have been conducted with animals, night-shift workers and people who, due to a disorder called night eating syndrome.

Most of the major studies on late-night eating have been conducted with animals, night-shift workers and people who, due to a disorder called night eating syndrome.

Published May 30, 2012

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We all know that eating fatty food piles on the kilos. But research suggests when we eat may be just as important as what we put in our mouths.

Eating while we stay up to browse the internet or watch a late film is likely to be contributing to rising obesity levels, warn scientists.

The warning comes after tests on mice. One group were allowed to eat only during an eight-hour period, while a second group could graze on what they wanted all day and night.

US researchers found that even though the two groups were eating about the same number of calories, those who ate at set times during the day did not become obese.

They suggest that those who ate when they wanted to gained weight because they disrupted their body clock – and they believe the same principle may apply to humans.

Dr Satchidananda Panda, the study’s lead author, said that at certain times of day the liver, intestines and muscles are at peak efficiency, while at other times they are “sleeping”.

He added: “Every organ has a clock. Those metabolic cycles are critical.

“When mice or people eat throughout the day and night, it can throw off those normal metabolic cycles.”

At the end of their study, the mice that ate all day and night had 70 percent more fatty deposits than the time-restricted group.

Panda, of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in California, said eating patterns may have changed in recent years as people have more reasons to stay up late.

Writing in the journal Cell Metabolism, the research team suggests that restricting meal times could help to lower obesity levels.

Tam Fry of the National Obesity Forum said: “There’s a pattern, which you should build up from childhood, of three set meals a day.

“Anything you do to upset that opens you up to problems with the hormones that control appetite.”– Daily Mail

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