How Eating Early Dinner Can Help Burn Fat, And Lower Your Blood Sugar

1. Eating late linked with weight gain

In a study published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, eating a late dinner is linked with weight gain and high blood sugar levels, despite if the meal is the same that you would have consumed earlier.

“We were informed of other research that recommended that late eating is linked with obesity, and because the association is not the same as causation, we needed to look at this in a more rigorous way,” study author Dr. Jonathan C. Jun, associate professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University told Healthline.

Jun revealed that the study team wanted to know whether late eating truly changes metabolism in a way that promotes obesity.

2. Same meals, same sleep time

Jun and the team examined 20 healthy volunteers (10 men and 10 women) to discover how their bodies metabolized dinner eaten at 10 p.m. instead of 6 p.m. All study participants went to sleep at the same time: 11 p.m.

Findings show that blood sugar levels are higher, and the volume of fat burned lower when eating a late dinner, even when people ate the same meal.

Other researchers have done related work looking at circadian rhythms and diet, and other labs have shown that if you eat out of phase with your body’s normal circadian rhythm, you don’t metabolize glucose the same way.

The research discovered that late eaters had peak blood sugar levels almost 20 percent higher and fat burning decreased by 10 percent, associated with those who ate dinner earlier.

The results we have seen in healthy volunteers might be more noticeable in people with obesity or diabetes, who then have a compromised metabolism, said the study’s first author Chenjuan Gu, Ph.D., a postdoctoral researcher at Johns Hopkins University, statement.

The interesting part of this research is that researchers discovered that not everyone reacts to eating late meals the same way.

What surprised me the most was that not everyone was vulnerable in the same way,” said Jun. “There was a group, you know if you looked at the pattern of activity in the preceding 2 weeks, people who were accustomed to sleeping earlier did the worst when we gave them a late meal.”

According to Jun, night owls that ate as late as 2 or 3 a.m. seemed to be unaffected by the change in their meal. “It’s not a one size fits all; there are differences in people’s metabolism that either makes them more vulnerable to late eating or it doesn’t faze them.”

4. One of the most detailed studies of its kind

Jun pointed out that this study was much more detailed than previous research on the subject. Participants wore activity trackers, had their blood sampled, underwent sleep studies and body fat scans, and ate food containing nonradioactive markers to measure fat metabolism.

The people got very intensive monitoring performed when they were in the lab. We drew blood every hour, we had their activities and sleep monitored for 2 weeks before they came to the lab, said Jun. “We gave what’s called a stable isotope tracer, so when they consumed their food we could measure how much of the fat they ate was burned or oxidized.”

Asked if this study provides conclusive proof that it’s when and not necessarily what you eat that can cause weight gain, Jun was confident.

Yes, I think this at least shows that there’s biological plausibility or biological explanations for how food timing can affect the way your body handles those calories,” he said.

5. Findings may help guide eating habits

Although the study was conducted with a young adult, healthy weight volunteers, it provides us with some helpful information to guide eating habits,” said Lisa K. Diewald, MS, RD, LDN, program manager, MacDonald Center for Obesity Prevention and Education at Villanova University M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing.

Diewald adds that the findings are significant for disease prevention. This study provides a reminder that cultivating eating habits addressing traditional factors such as meal content and size and meal timing may influence the risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease down the road. According to Diewald, dinner is, by far, the largest meal of the day for most adults in terms of calories.

She emphasized that busy people typically rush through breakfast and lunch, which often means eating later, and more than they should. This can leave you yearning for a large meal late at night, which as this study highlights, can result in some difficulties with glucose or fat metabolism, even in young individuals with a healthy weight.

Diewald suggested having a small, high-protein snack such as Greek yogurt sprinkled with nuts in the late afternoon if you know you’ll be home late. Curbing appetite a bit so that if you have to eat later than anticipated, it can be a snack-size meal,” she said.

Choices could include eating a small salad with grilled chicken, half a sandwich and fruit, or a cup of vegetable soup and a glass of low-fat milk.

Try to eat your largest meal at breakfast or lunch, said Diewald.

Conclusion

Recent research finds eating a late dinner can cause weight gain and high blood sugar levels inconsiderate of calories.

Researchers found that not everyone reacts the same way, and people who were accustomed to earlier bedtimes had the most weight gain from a late dinner. Night owls were the least influenced by a change in mealtime.

According to researchers, this is strong proof that eating a late meal causes weight gain even if you don’t raise the calories consumed.

When working long days, specialists say it’s a good idea to eat a healthy snack in the afternoon to control your appetite for a late dinner.