What Are the Consequences of Midnight Snacking?

September 7, 2009 By Mark

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Is it just as important how much we eat and when we eat it? Is weight gain merely down to the fact of just over eating and nothing else.

Recently published online a study done by the journal Obesity, used animals for research to find out what effect, eating has on their bodies when they ate food in the small hours.

This happens to be one of the first studies based around eating times and weight gain. The scientists doing the sleep study based at Northwestern University , used two groups of mice. They two groups fed on different eating schedules; both groups had the same amount of high fat food, and did the same amount of physical activity.

The difference between the two control groups was, one group ate normally throughout the 12-hour period, and the second group ate when they would normally be sleeping.

When the results came in the second group, which ate food when they should have been sleeping. Surprisingly gained more weight, it worked out at two times there normal weight

The researchers wanted to know, if there was anything to eating more food in the evening and the effect it would have on weight gain. One of the researchers said that there was a lot of evidence to suggest that people who eat large meals in the late evening, do in fact tend to be overweight.

Particularly those who tend to skip breakfast. One theory that was put forward as to why this actually happens, is when we eat at regular times it tends to affect our body clock.

Because our bodies are designed to eat at certain times, this could affect the way our energy is used. This may affect two hormones in our body, which regulate appetite and feeling full.

The two hormones in question are ghrelin and leptin; the first of the two sends a signal from your stomach to your brain telling you to eat. The latter of the two tells you to stop eating. But while experiments on mice, have worked manipulating these two genes they have not been so successful on human subjects.

Other research which has backed up what has been studied beforehand, revolved around monitoring night shift workers they were far more likely to be overweight. Compared to people who work in the daytime. People who have eight hours of sleep tend to be thinner, other studies have shown. To conclude one of the researchers said it is best to eat 50 percent of the calories you need in the early part of the day.

To minimise any weight gain. Also people who don’t sleep very well are far more likely to have diabetes and heart related problems.