We have all heard it and read it but were never too sure if eating late at night could stunt our weight loss journey. This latest study published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism confirmed it. It corroborated through an intensive research that eating a late dinner may contribute to weight gain and high blood sugar, both posing danger to our overall health and fitness level. This comes as a reality check to all those people who start their day late and end it late by eating their dinner around bedtime. 

Statistics reveal that over 2.1 billion adults are overweight or suffer from obesity worldwide, making health issues like diabetes and high blood pressure more rampant. Some studies suggest that consuming calories later in the day is associated with obesity and metabolic syndrome.

Corresponding author Jonathan C. Jun, M.D., of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, M.d., said, “This study sheds new light on how eating a late dinner worsens glucose tolerance and reduces the amount of fat burned. The effect of late eating varies greatly between people and depends on their usual bedtime.” 

20 healthy volunteers (10 men and 10 women) wee roped in to study how they metabolised dinner eaten at 10 p.m. compared to 6 p.m. All the volunteers went to sleep at 11 p.m. It was seen that blood sugar levels were higher, and the amount of ingested fat burned was lower with the later dinner, even when the same meal was provided at the two different times.

“This shows that some people might be more vulnerable to late eating than others. If the metabolic effects we observed with a single meal keep occurring chronically, then late eating could lead to consequences such as diabetes or obesity,” concluded Jonathan C. Jun.