Late night snacking may increase risk of diabetes, heart disease

Grabbing a late night snack is always tempting, but research has shown that eating at night is detrimental to your overall health and wellbeing.

Eating after dinner, when the body should be at rest, can increase the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and weight gain, as calories consumed at that time are more likely to be stored as fat.

Now, a new study from the National Autonomous University of Mexico has found that eating late at night disrupts the body’s natural 24-hour cycle.

For the study, researchers focused on triglycerides in rats. The team fed fat to a group of rats right before their rest period, and their blood-fat levels increased rapidly as a result.

The blood-fat levels were higher if they were fed before rest than if they were fed before their active period.

In another part of the study, the researchers removed part of the rat’s brain that controls the 24-hour cycle. After doing this, there was no change in blood-fat levels regardless of when the rats were fed.

The study shows that when the rats were fed before rest, it was counter to their natural 24-cycle, which increased their blood-fat levels.

People who snack late at night are also running counter to their body’s natural rhythm and increase their risk of diabetes, weight gain, and heart disease.

These results are especially problematic for those individuals whose work schedules run counter to the 24-hour cycle, such as people who work the late shift or work nights.

It turns out that in the long-term, late-night eating can be more than just a bad habit, but even dangerous one.

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By Kay Vandette, Earth.com Staff Writer