Research Finds Eating Late At Night Is Linked With A Few Notable Side Effects

The study authors note that for this research, they wanted to look at three key factors associated with weight regulation and obesity risk: appetite, energy expenditure (aka calories burned), and molecular changes in fat tissue.

To do so, they had 16 overweight or obese participants follow two meal schedules. The first meal schedule was considered an "early meal schedule," and the second was the exact same schedule but everything was four hours later (i.e., the early schedule's dinner was at 5 p.m., and the late schedule's dinner was at 9 p.m.).

Throughout both sets of meal schedules, participants took note of their hunger levels, gave blood samples, and had their temperature and energy expenditure measured. Some of the participants also had adipose (body fat) tissue collected for testing.

Based on the study's findings, eating late does appear to have some connection to obesity risk, namely in those who are overweight or obese already.

The results showed that when participants were on the later meal schedule, they woke up feeling hungrier, were less effective at burning calories, and had adipose tissue that showed increased fat growth. As study author Nina Vujović, Ph.D., explains in a news release, "We found that eating four hours later makes a significant difference for our hunger levels, the way we burn calories after we eat, and the way we store fat."

But since this research only included overweight or obese participants, the study authors say further research is needed to see if these results would translate to the larger population.