Will my weight increase if I eat at night?
Simply put, NO. But...
Weight gain results from the intake of more energy than we need, so we will not actually gain weight if we eat at night. Our weight will increase if we eat more than we need.
Usually, in a balanced diet, you will have three main meals and some snacks depending on the needs of each person. So, there are breakfast, lunch, dinner, and 2-3 snacks in between. In other words, dinner is a main meal.
But there is another aspect that we will consider. The so-called Chrononutrition and circadian rhythms. Of course it is a very big topic here I will only make a small mention.
So chrononutrition is an emerging field based on the relationship between eating patterns, circadian rhythms and metabolic health and includes the timing, frequency and regularity of meals.
Circadian rhythms are the physical, mental, and behavioral changes an organism experiences in a 24-hour cycle. For example, a specific time within 24 hours, melatonin production begins or a specific time you have the best coordination in your body.
Light and dark have the greatest effect on circadian rhythms, but food intake, stress, physical activity, social environment and temperature can and do affect them.
In humans, almost every tissue and organ has its own circadian rhythm, and collectively they are tuned to the daily cycle of day and night. In humans the CHIEF clock is located in the brain (called the suprachiasmatic nucleus-SCN) and among other functions, controls the production of the hormone melatonin. based on the amount of light received by the eyes and synchronizes circadian rhythms in various organs and tissues throughout the body. Melatonin can be said to play a role in managing the sleep-wake cycle.
Circadian rhythms affect important functions in the human body, such as:
• Sleep patterns
• Secretion of hormones
• Appetite and digestion
• Temperature
Short-term disruptions in circadian rhythms can cause sleepiness, poor coordination, and difficulty learning and focusing, while long-term sleep loss and persistent circadian rhythm shifts can increase the risk of obesity, diabetes, mood disorders, heart problems, and arterial problems. stress and cancer and can also worsen existing health problems.
There are different types of people. The ones we call "morning types", the so-called evening types and those in between. Morning types wake up earlier and their meals are earlier relative to night types who sleep later wake up later and consequently eat later.
It seems that so-called evening types have a greater risk of weight gain than morning types. But is this precisely due to the fact that they eat later in the evening or is it due to other factors?
Evening Types:
Skipping meals, especially skipping breakfast is common
Food intake, of lower quality and eating behaviors that favor weight gain and metabolic changes,
Shorter sleep duration during the week as they sleep later but due to work, school or other obligations they have to wake up in the morning. Consequently, circadian rhythms are affected. Also this can then lead to skipping, reallocating or 'stuffing' meals later in the day. This can support the popular breakfast skipping theory, which posits that those people who skip breakfast tend to be hungrier later in the day. leading to overcompensation of energy intake, especially in the evening.
It also appears that evening types often exhibit unhealthy eating behaviors such as eating larger portions, second portions, experiencing more food cravings, emotional and stress-related eating, and higher intake of unhealthy, say, energy-dense foods. . Conversely, morning types in surveys had higher consumption restraint scores, which have been linked to higher consumption of "healthy foods" such as green vegetables and fewer energy-dense foods
Therefore, eating at night does not in itself lead to weight gain because, as we said, weight gain is caused by excess energy, i.e. consuming more calories than you need. But people who tend to eat later in the evening seem to eat more and consume less good choices, making them more prone to weight gain.
I suggest you eat at least 2 to 4 hours before bed to give your body enough time to digest the food better. Allowing time between eating and lying down also reduces the risk of GERD symptoms and poor sleep.
Bibliography:
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Boege HL, Bhatti MZ, St-Onge MP. Circadian rhythms and meal timing: impact on energy balance and body weight. Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2021 Aug;70:1-6. doi: 10.1016/j.copbio.2020.08.009. Epub 2020 Sep 29. PMID: 32998085; PMCID: PMC7997809.
McHill AW, Phillips AJ, Czeisler CA, Keating L, Yee K, Barger LK, Garaulet M, Scheer FA, Klerman EB. Later circadian timing of food intake is associated with increased body fat. Am J Clin Nutr. 2017 Nov;106(5):1213-1219. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.117.161588. Epub 2017 Sep 6. PMID: 28877894; PMCID: PMC5657289.
Davis R, Rogers M, Coates AM, Leung GKW, Bonham MP. The Impact of Meal Timing on Risk of Weight Gain and Development of Obesity: a Review of the Current Evidence and Opportunities for Dietary Intervention. Curr Diab Rep. 2022 Apr;22(4):147-155. doi: 10.1007/s11892-022-01457-0. Epub 2022 Apr 11. PMID: 35403984; PMCID: PMC9010393.
Ekiz Erim S, Sert H. The relationship between chronotype and obesity: A systematic review. Chronobiol Int. 2023 Apr;40(4):529-541. doi: 10.1080/07420528.2023.2180385. Epub 2023 Feb 20. PMID: 36803075.
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