Night Listening | Eating dinner earlier vs. later, the difference is so big!

Hello, this is Science Popularization China. We often say that eating too late is bad for your health, but what exactly is bad about it? Is there really any difference if you eat the same thing earlier or later?

In order to clarify this issue, some scientists conducted a special experiment. They found a total of 16 overweight or obese participants and divided them into two groups: early eating and late eating. These participants ate the same food every day, and their physical activities and schedules were strictly restricted, trying to ensure that all other variables were consistent except for their meal times.

The final experimental results are very interesting. The group of participants who ate later had a significant increase in the hormone that controls hunger in their stomach, while the leptin that produces a sense of fullness decreased. This leads to a significant increase in hunger for those who eat late, and even increases to 34% during the day. This is consistent with our usual feelings. If you have a midnight snack the day before, you always feel empty in your stomach when you wake up the next day. This may be related to the changes in related hormones.

The researchers also extracted the subcutaneous fat molecules of the subjects and found that eating late would reduce lipid decomposition and increase synthesis. It would also reduce the metabolism of the next day and make fat accumulation more serious.

What's even more heartbreaking is that the "late eating" plan in the experiment was strictly implemented according to the 16:8 intermittent fasting method. If you eat late and keep eating various snacks, the metabolic changes in your body will probably be more obvious.

Having said so much, the disadvantages of eating late are obvious. But what should we do if we still can't control ourselves? We can try to push the eating time as far forward as possible, preferably to eat the last meal 4 hours before going to bed, leaving enough rest time for the body to do what it should do at night. It's okay to have a midnight snack occasionally, but don't make it a habit.

Review丨Chen COFCO Nutrition and Health Research Institute Associate Research Senior Engineer