Biology in Action

I really hope you’re finding are true! I know as a fellow college student I always find myself up late at night and of course wanting to snack while I’m doing work and studying. I’ve always heard that eating at night is a no-no and decided to look up the same topic and see what I find. Although I love your findings, my research showed the opposite.

The first site I check out was: http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20090903/eat-late-put-on-weight. Unlike your study, this Northwestern University was completed with mice. Deanna Arble, a PhD student at Northwestern stated that “ we’ve found that mice who are allowed to eat during light phase/ “wrong” time of the day, gained substantially more weight than those allowed to eat during the dark phase/ the right time of the day.” Those who ate at the “wrong” time of the day, which is equivalent to the human night time eating, had a 48% weight increase while the other group of mice, eating at the “right” or human day time only had a 20% weight increase. Arble admits that the actual time period is unknown and this was limited to day vs. night. She did however, only give the mice a 12-hour time period to eat whether they were day or night group. However, there was a con to this study that I saw. Arble did not state that both mice groups consumed the same amount of calories; therefore you cannot know for sure if the amount they consumed impacted their weight gain. The pro that I saw in this study was that human are supposed to rest at night and therefore eating at night is contradicting to your body’s natural circadian rhythm. Also, at night the leptin levels are starting to rise which suppress appetite. If you feel the urge to taste rather than to eat to satisfy hunger I found this site, http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=56681, which has tips for avoiding late night snacking.

On the same site, there was a second opinion of agreeing from Arline D. Salbe, PhD and senior researcher at Kronos Longevity Research Institute in Phoenix. She performed a study where her and her colleagues evaluated the food intake of nearly 100 people over a 3 day period while they stayed in a clinical research unit and we permitted to eat as much as they wanted. They first noted that there were 29 night eaters, those who ate between 11 p.m.-5 a.m. on at least one of the three days. The other 65 participants were not night eaters. The study lasted 3.5 years, where the night eaters gained an average of 13.6 lbs to the “normal” participants who gained 3.7 lbs.

It is important to know that a night-time snack in small moderation won’t kill you. But if you find yourself constantly eating large amounts at night you may have night eating disorder. According to the site, http://nutrition.about.com/od/askyournutritionist/f/nes.htm, people with night eating disorder consume too many of their calories, in specific at least 25-50%, in the evening after dinner, specifically after 8 p.m. Patients with this disorder are noted to suffer from depression, diabetes, low self-esteem and obesity.

With both our findings, I think we can see that there is still more research that needs to be done. The studies need to be specific to calories consumed, time period during consumption, age, sex, and other factors such as fat and sugar intake. Also, I think that there are many type of eaters with different metabolisms so it might vary for everyone. I know I personally do not feel the best when I snack bad at night. I am told, that the best later snack is one that will move slowly through your system, such as natural peanut butter. Because it is low in carbs and is basically protein with some “good” fats, having this move slowly in your body during the night keeps your body’s metabolism going. I’m sure there are disputes about this also, but it seems to be working for me!

This article really caught my interest since I am a teenager who eats at odd times of the day. I used to believe that what i ate at night would cause me to gain weight, so I have watched my eating habits before bed. This article surprises me since so many people believe this, and I am glad that scientists have busted this myth.

That is insane! I have always thought that maybe, it is worse for one to eat at night because your body is starting to “shut down.” Apparently not. It definitely falls in my favor as well though. When you go to a school like Fairleigh Dickinson and you eat dinner as early as 4:30 either because your friends are all going or you have to run to class immediately after, you definitely get hungry again, usually later at night. Most of the time, it’s almost like you can eat an entire other meal.
Eating is also another way of procrascination or even a way to deal with stress. I know that when I am working on a paper, usually at night, all I want to do is make a run to quick check or the grill to get something to munch on. I really do hope that these findings are true because it really is impossible to have a normal eating schedule when you’re a college student living on campus.

I really hope that this article is true! I always find myself hungry late at night, but try not to eat, because I was always told that if you eat at night, it bad. For you eat and go to sleep and the food just stays in your stomach and is more likely going to make you gain weight, because you do not do that much activity and night and then go to bed. So you pretty much just eat, do nothing, and go to sleep. Being a college student I am up all hours of the night, I usually eat at 4 and then like on cue, I’m starving at like one in the morning. So hearing this makes me feel better after I make that trip to quick chek for a sandwich!

I’m a believer of these findings! Just like my fellow commenters here I too hope this research is true. Being a college student and having to endure the late night hours of all-nighters can take a toll on you. But just like this study may prove there is no correlation there will always be another source that claims something else.
I have also read studies in health-concious articles that drinking cold water during a workout can be negative because it makes it harder for your blood to flow easily. But there are those who believe the temperature of water has nothing to do with it. I think its all relative to your lifestyle. If you live a healthy lifestyle than you are probably already conscious that late night eating can rake up the calorie intake. But your body needs to digest its food at some point.
If you are a person in shape and active ultimately I believe you can eat whenever you would like. But your metabolism also plays a role in this; there are ways to speed up your metabolism such as exercising or lifting weights. Ultimately if you do some of these things I think you can eat whenever you see fit. Eating healthy is another factor that comes into play; if your eating garbage every late night you find yourself strolling over to the refrigerator, you may want to rethink it.