Why eating at the wrong time affects your weight

We try anything to lose weight – from intensive exercise to dieting.

But the key to weight loss may lie in the time of the day that food is eaten. This was discovered by scientists from UT Southwestern Medical Centre.

It has been known for a long time that calorie restriction can lead to prolonged lifespan in animals, yet the mechanisms that underlie this effect has been unknown. However, these kinds of studies require manual feeding of the animals over many years, making them difficult to implement; and often nocturnal animals are fed at daytime with prolonged fasting periods.

The scientists from UT developed a system that controlled duration, amount and the timing of food availability while recording feeding and voluntary wheel running activity in mice – to understand why calorie-restricted diet increased longevity.

Two groups of mice were fed at the wrong times during the light-dark cycle – those with a 30 per cent reduction in calories and others with unlimited access to food during the day.

Mice with unlimited access remained active at night, suggesting the onset of chronic sleep deprivation.

The mice on a reduced calorie plan who ate during their normal feeding/active cycles were the only group out of the five to lose weight, despite consuming the same amount of food as the other groups fed during their rest time in the day.

The scientists also discovered that mice on a caloric-restricted diet reduced their eating to a short time period despite food being available constantly, and were unexpectedly active during the rest phase (daytime). This data revealed previously unknown relationships between feeding, metabolism and behaviour.

For human beings, this study suggests that dieting will only be effective if calories are consumed at the right time – during daytime when we are awake and active. Eating at the wrong time at the night will not lead to weight loss even if dieting.

The scientists also believe the timings of our meals affect our circadian rhythm and may be the reason why dietary habits affect lifespan.

Watching when you eat and consume calories may help you extend the effects of your diet and exercise plan. This will not only enable you to lose weight more effectively, but you will also derive additional benefits of healthy sleep and a prolonged lifespan.

Source: Cell Metabolism