A new study compared people who ate the same food but at different times of the day. (Superstar, Shutterstock)
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ATLANTA — We all know that eating late is bad for your waistline, but why?
“If everything else is held constant, does the time we eat matter?” says lead author Nina Nina, researcher in the Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Vujovic says:
The answer was yes. Studies show that he is twice as likely to be hungry if he eats late. Published Tuesday in Cell Metabolism.
“We found significant differences in hunger levels, how postprandial calories were burned, and how fat was stored after eating four hours later.” It may explain why is associated with increased risk of obesity and provide new biological insights into the underlying mechanisms.”
The study supports the notion that circadian rhythms, which influence key physiological functions such as body temperature and heart rate, influence how our bodies absorb fuel, the researchers said. said.
The study shows that eating late “increases hunger, affects hormones, and also alters gene expression. tend to increase,” said Professor Dr. Bhanu Prakash Khora. He holds a PhD in Psychiatry and Psychology from the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and is also a consultant at the Center for Sleep Medicine and the Department of Addiction Medicine at Mayo University.
Previous studies have linked eating later with weight gain, but this study did not measure weight loss and cannot show a causal relationship. has been shown to be associated with obesity.
“So could these results be the result of skipping breakfast rather than eating late? That’s an effect we should consider in this study,” said Kolla.
strictly managed
Although the study was small, with only 16 overweight or obese people, it was carefully designed to rule out other potential causes of weight gain, the authors say.
“Although there are other studies investigating why slow eating is associated with increased risk of obesity, strict control over meal size, composition, timing, physical activity, sleep, room temperature and light exposure is essential. and so on, this may be the best controlled, says lead author Frank Scheer, director of the Medical Chronobiology Program in the Department of Sleep and Circadian Disorders at Brigham University.
All participants were healthy, had no history of diabetes or shift work that could affect circadian rhythms, and had regular physical activity. A consistent sleep/wake schedule was maintained and cooked meals were served at fixed times for 3 days before the start of the lab experiments.
Participants were then randomly divided into two groups. During his six days reported in the study, one group ate a calorie-controlled meal at 8:00 a.m., noon, and 4:00 p.m. I ate the same meal. Hunger and appetite measurements were collected 18 times each, and tests for body fat, temperature, and energy expenditure were collected separately for his three days.
After a few weeks rest, the same participants reversed the procedure. Those who ate earlier were moved to the group who ate later and vice versa, using each person as their own control.
Hungry More, Burns Less Fat
They found that people who ate late-night snacks felt twice as hungry. Those who ate later in the day also reported cravings for starchy and salty foods, meat, and to a lesser extent, dairy and vegetables.
By looking at the blood test results, the researchers were able to understand why: Levels of leptin, the hormone that makes you feel full, decreased with late eating compared to fast eating. , increased levels of ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates appetite.
“What’s new is that our results show that slow eating increases the average ghrelin to leptin ratio across the 24-hour sleep/wake cycle,” Scheer said. , the study found that the ratio of ghrelin to leptin rose by 34% if the meal was eaten later in the day.
“These changes in appetite-regulating hormones are well suited to the increased hunger and appetite from slow eating,” says Scheer.
If participants ate later in the day, they burned calories at a slower rate than if they ate earlier in the day. Testing their body fat found genetic changes that affect how fat is burned or stored, the study found.
“These changes in gene expression will support adipose tissue growth by forming more adipocytes and increasing fat storage,” Scheer said.
It is unclear whether these effects will persist over time, or affect people taking medications for chronic diseases that are currently excluded from the study.More research is needed, the authors say. said.
