Eating late at night increases the risk of heart disease and diabetes by raising levels of harmful blood fats. Shift work, is triggering the killer illnesses by leading to people eating their meals at the wrong time of the day. Experiments on rats found when they ate at the start of their rest period there was a dramatic spike in triglycerides, compared to being fed just before they became active.
Triglycerides are blood fats produced in the liver and derived from foods such as meat, dairy products and cooking oils. They are different from cholesterol but can also clog arteries, leading to cardiovascular disease, or inflame the pancreas, triggering diabetes. People with high levels of triglycerides in their blood are more likely to have heart problems when the part of the rat's brain that controls the circadian rhythm was no longer in change of the fat levels.
Cardiovascular disease and diabetes are linked to a lifestyle where humans ignore the signals of the biological clock and eat in the evening and late at night. The researchers said the study demonstrates why such a routine is out of sync with 24-hour cycle and may result in high blood fat levels and a higher risk for illnesses.
Eating late frequently during with shift work, jet lag, or staying up late at night will harm human health in the long term especially when we eat at times when we should sleep. People put on more weight when they ate three meals a day between noon and 11pm than when they consumed the same amount of calories from 8am to 7pm. The late night meals caused them to pile on by reducing the breaking down of fats.
Delayed eating also led them to store carbohydrates which can lead to weight gain and raised blood sugar and insulin levels, increasing the risk of diabetes. Their cholesterol and triglyceride levels rose too, raising the likelihood of heart disease. Disruption of circadian regulation has been linked to metabolic abnormalities. Epidemiological evidence shows night work is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease.
As rats are nocturnal, they rest during the day and are active at night. When they ate two hours after the onset of daylight, rather than dark, their triglyceride levels soared. The suprachiasmatic nucleus SCN has a major role in day-night variations in plasma triglycerides by promoting their uptake into skeletal muscle and brown adipose tissue.
Disturbance of the biological clock might be an important risk factor contributing to the development of hyperlipidemia (high blood fats). In the last decade studies have documented triglycerides can cause strokes and heart attacks. In humans they rise during the resting phase, suggesting the involvement of the SCN on behavioral activity.
Since triglyceride levels are an important factor in the progress of blood clots, these results may have potential implications for the cause of cardiovascular diseases in the context of inadequate feeding times, shifted towards the rest phase. According to a 2013 study early eaters lost twelve percent of their body weight, while late eaters lost only 8 percent, even though they all followed the same diet and exercise regime.
According to a 2007 study people who eat most of their food at night have higher body mass indexes than those who eat earlier in the day. Another study showed participants who ate between 11 pm and 5am gained more weight than those who did not eat during those hours.
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