New study links late eating and obesity risk

You may have stood in front of an open refrigerator late at night and thought, “That’s not a good idea.” A recent scientific study from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston agrees that eating out late is not good for you. In fact, studying in cell metabolism It concludes that it can increase a person’s risk of obesity.

According to the study, obesity affects 42 percent of the US population. In turn, obesity can contribute to chronic diseases such as diabetes and cancer. This new study followed 16 participants, all of whom were classified as overweight. The researchers focused on three factors and how they are affected by delayed eating: regulation of calorie intake, the number of calories burned, and molecular changes in adipose tissue.

In this study, we asked, ‘Does the time we eat matter when everything else remains constant? “And we found that eating after four hours makes a significant difference in our hunger levels, the way we burn calories after eating, and the way we store fat,” said lead author Dr. Nina Vogovich, a researcher in Brigham’s Division of Sleep and Circadians. turmoil, in press release.

Late eating: what the study revealed

The study had two laboratory protocols. In one, participants ate a well-defined early meal, and in the other, they ate four hours later.

When participants eat later, levels leptin hormone, which refers to satiety or “feeling full,” decreased. In addition, people who eat later also burn calories at a slower speed. At the molecular level, the study found an increase in fat growth and accumulation and a decrease in lipolysis in late eating participants.

With only 16 participants in total, this is by no means a large study. In addition, all participants had a BMI considered to be overweight or obese. It’s unclear if the results will hold across a larger sample size, or for people who are not overweight.

Despite these limitations, the data are compelling: at both a physiological and even a molecular level, the study shows a possible link between late eating and an increased risk of obesity.

Next time it’s getting late and you’re hungry, it’s worth remembering that it’s not just what you eat that matters –when It also makes a huge difference.

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