Midnight snack: Eating late makes you even more hungry (study)

Many people have fixed eating routines and this usually also means: fixed times for food intake. But whether constant or rather chaotic, according to a new study, the time plays a very decisive role. So are you a fan of one or the other? midnight snackthen you should be prepared for changes in your body.

This is how the midnight snack changes your body

Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston primarily wanted to find out why the midnight snack has such a clear effect. Basically, there are differences in terms of Risk of obesity, effects on appetite, formation of adipose tissue and energy expenditure compared to eating during the day.

at hers investigations They then found the following: Eating late changed the release of the hormone ghrelin, which is responsible for appetite regulation, in the study participants. At the same time, there were also lower leptin levels – this hormone signals the brain that you are full. As a result, waking hunger increased over the course of the study.

Eating late also made people burn calories much more slowly. There were also changes in their fat tissue and the way their genes are expressed in it (known as gene expression). These changes favored the storage of lipids, which in turn promoted fat growth.

Same conditions, different time – big differences

For their investigations, the researchers made sure that the conditions were as constant as possible and thus the same meals. In one series of experiments, they simply pushed back the time of food intake by four hours. And this difference alone showed clear changes.

A total of 16 obese or overweight subjects participated in two meal plans in the laboratory. Body posture, sleep, light contact and physical activities were controlled as precisely as possible. In addition, blood samples were taken regularly and body temperature and energy expenditure were monitored, while people themselves were asked to record their hunger and appetite.

Fatty tissue samples were also taken in biopsies. The aim was to look at how different mealtimes affected molecular pathways associated with the formation of fat.

Researchers have been exploring the relationship between food and time of day for some time. Another study recently concluded that Increased risk of various cancers become if you regularly eat after 9 p.m.

Quelle: „Eating Late Increases Hunger, Decreases Calories Burned, and Changes Fat Tissue“ (Brigham and Women’s Hospital 2022)

War has been raging in Ukraine since February 24, 2022. here Can you help those affected?.

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.