A doctor specializing in nutrition and health says eating dinner too late can negatively affect your cholesterol and waist size. Professor Sarah Berry, a medical doctor and researcher at King’s College London, explained these effects on the Better Brain Podcast.
She said eating late is linked to poorer metabolic health. Professor Tim Spector, co-founder of the Zoe health app, joined her on the podcast. He called late-night snacking “the worst thing you can do” when it comes to meal timing.
Research shows that even if people eat the same number of calories, the time they eat can change how their bodies absorb and use food.
Why is eating late bad?
Professor Berry said, “If you eat after eight or nine at night, you often wake up feeling hungrier, which seems surprising.” She added that eating late is connected to higher cholesterol, bigger waist circumference, and worse insulin resistance.
Professor Spector agreed, emphasizing that late-night snacking is especially harmful for your metabolism.
A study by Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital found that when we eat affects our energy use, appetite, and how fat tissue behaves. Professor Frank Scheer, who leads the Medical Chronobiology Program at Brigham and Women’s, said, “Eating late increases the risk of obesity, body fat, and makes losing weight harder.”
The study involved 16 people. It showed that eating late changed hunger levels and the hormones leptin and ghrelin, which control appetite. Leptin, the hormone that signals fullness, was lower when people ate late. Also, late eating slowed down how fast people burned calories.
The Zoe health app shared on Instagram that your body’s internal clock, or circadian rhythm, affects how food is processed. At night, insulin sensitivity drops and digestion slows down, making it harder to handle sugar and fat.
However, they noted that extreme eating schedules, like eating all meals within six hours, are usually not sustainable long-term.
Victoria Taylor, a senior dietitian at the British Heart Foundation, agreed. She said eating late may be linked to obesity and can affect blood sugar regulation. Our body clock is designed for eating during the day and sleeping at night. Disrupting this cycle may harm heart health.
What can you do?
In recent years, intermittent fasting has grown popular. This means eating only during certain times. The late Dr. Michael Mosley helped make it well-known.
There are different plans. The 5:2 diet limits calories on two days a week but allows normal eating on other days. The 16:8 plan means eating only within an eight-hour window each day.
These plans give your body breaks from digestion. Bupa says this may help reduce calorie intake and improve blood sugar control, which benefits people with prediabetes or type 2 diabetes.
Intermittent fasting may also trigger autophagy, a process where the body removes damaged cells. This might reduce risks of cancer and other chronic diseases, though more research is needed.
Other possible benefits include better gut health, improved sleep, lower blood pressure, and less inflammation.
However, Professors Berry and Spector stress that eating changes should fit your lifestyle and be sustainable. Professor Berry said, “You don’t need extreme regimes. Some people eat all their meals in six hours, which might work for them, but I want to eat dinner and still enjoy my evenings.”
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