Many people know that for health and well-being, it is important to monitor what and how much a person eats.

However, scientists have found that the time of food consumption plays an equally important role.

This is

reported

in the Washington Post.

Studies have shown that for optimal health, most calories should be consumed in the morning, not later.

For example, eat a hearty breakfast, a modest lunch and a small dinner.

This eating schedule is fully consistent with human circadian rhythms, which govern many aspects of health (from hormonal fluctuations throughout the day to sleep-wake cycles).

How well our internal clocks work affects the body's ability to digest food better.

And the body does this most optimally in the first half of the day.

Scientists claim that food eaten at 9 a.m. has a completely different metabolic effect than food eaten at 9 p.m.

Eating Schedules: Learning When to Eat

This new area of ​​research was called "chrono-nutrition".

It represents a paradigm shift in how nutritionists think about food and well-being.

Instead of focusing only on calories and nutrients, scientists are increasingly trying to pay attention to when a person eats.

And it turns out, it can have a dramatic effect on weight, appetite and the development of chronic diseases.

According to the professor of physiology and nutrition from the University of Murcia (Spain) Marta Harolet, none of the nutritionists paid attention to the schedule of eating until recently.

They have always studied only the calories and nutrients that a person receives when consuming certain foods.

Unfortunately, in today's busy world, more and more people skip breakfast, and after a working day, eat in the evening.

Researchers are sure that it is better to do the opposite for health.

Or, if you can't change your schedule, at least postpone dinner for a few hours before bed.

In her research, Garolet found that even in Spain, which is famous for its ancient culture of eating late, people who eat a more filling lunch and a light dinner have fewer health problems.

According to Marta, in Spain, people are usually full of calories between 2 and 3 o'clock in the afternoon.

And although many people have dinner late, at this time Spaniards eat fewer calories.

Hearty breakfast and light dinner: how to eat properly

When to eat / Photo: Pexels

Eating time is just one of many factors that affect metabolism.

For some people, such as night shift workers, a late hearty dinner is the norm.

However, for most, it is more useful to transfer the consumption of hearty meals to breakfast or lunch, and to make dinner lighter.

A new study

was published in Obesity Reviews

, in which scientists reviewed data from nine rigorous clinical trials involving 485 adults.

They found that people who ate most of their calories in the morning lost more weight than those who ate a hearty dinner.

They also significantly improved their cholesterol, blood sugar and insulin sensitivity.

In another

study

, which was published in Cell Metabolism in October 2022, scientists studied a group of adults to understand what would happen if people followed an early meal for 6 days.

According to the schedule, they ate breakfast at 8 am, lunch at 12 noon, and dinner at 4 pm.

The other participants in the study followed different rules and moved each meal forward four hours for the same 6 days.

Although the study was small, scientists strictly controlled all its participants.

Why eating late makes people hungrier

The researchers found that even though the participants ate the same food and exercised, those who had a late dinner felt more hungry.

A look at their hormone levels made it clear why.

Late eating led to a significant increase in ghrelin levels.

This hormone is responsible for increasing appetite and suppressing leptin (a hormone that causes a feeling of satiety).

That is, later eating caused the participants to burn fewer calories and their fat cells began to store more fat.

Frank Shear, senior author of the study and director of the Medical Chronobiology Program in the Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders at Brigham and Women's Hospital, noted that all mechanisms in the body were shifted in the direction of weight gain.

Other studies have had similar results.

Thus, in a randomized

study

conducted at Johns Hopkins University, scientists found that healthy young people burned less fat and had a 20% increase in blood sugar if they ate dinner at 10 p.m., compared to those who ate the dinner itself at 18.00.

Johns Hopkins associate professor of medicine and study author Jonathan June said what has become clear is that eating tea makes a difference.

Eating a late hearty dinner makes the body less tolerant to glucose and also causes the body to burn less fat.

How to follow a schedule of eating in the early hours of the day

How to stick to eating schedules / Photo: Pexels

Scientists who study when to eat for weight loss and health have helped create certain strategies for optimizing eating schedules:

  • Don't skip breakfast

    - Martha Garolet and her colleagues found that skipping an early meal increases the risk of obesity.

    Therefore, even if you do not feel hungry, eat something light and then have a more filling lunch.

    It is still better to consume most of the calories in the first half of the day.

  • Carbohydrates are better in the morning than in the evening

    - if you want to eat bread or sweets, it is better to do it in the early hours of the day.

    At this time, the body is more sensitive to insulin than at night.

  • It is better to have dinner earlier than later

    - you can start by moving dinner one hour earlier.

    But ideally, you need to have dinner 2-3 hours before bedtime.

  • Dinner should be light

    — if you can't eat dinner earlier, try to make it the least caloric of all other meals.

    If you are used to eating a light lunch and a hearty dinner, you can simply switch their places.

  • Try to control your eating schedule at least five days a week

    — sometimes it is not possible to eat a hearty breakfast and a light dinner.

    This is normal.

    However, people who stick to the eating schedule at least five days out of seven also get better blood sugar control and improved sleep.

  • Biology of eating time

    Scientists have discovered several mechanisms that explain why it is better to choose an early meal schedule for health.

    In the morning, the human body secretes isnulin better.

    And this hormone helps control sugar levels.

    Also, a person remains more sensitive to insulin in the early hours of the day.

    At this time, the muscles are better able to absorb and use glucose from the bloodstream.

    However, by evening, the body becomes less sensitive to insulin.

    And at night, the beta cells in the pancreas, where insulin is produced, generally become lethargic and respond worse to increased glucose levels.

    Another important factor is hormone-sensitive lipase.

    This enzyme releases fat from fat cells.

    It is most active at night, because it provides the body with energy to support the functioning of human organs during sleep.

    Harolette discovered that this enzyme is inhibited by eating late at night.

    And also, in fact, prevents the body from burning fat.