Eat between 8 and 8 p.m., scientists advise

While some nutritionists advise to constantly count the calories of the food we eat, a group of scientists discovered another method.

According to them, feeding should take place in a precisely defined 12-hour window.

For example, if the first meal is at 8 a.m., the last should be no later than 8 p.m.

After that, we shouldn’t eat anything and this is a guarantee that we won’t gain weight, scientists believe.

Researchers from The Salk Institute in the US add more evidence to the thesis that eating late at night causes weight gain.

They suggest limiting meals to a 12-hour period to reduce the risk of high cholesterol, diabetes and obesity.

“But many people don’t have the opportunity to eat healthy. In this situation, does it make sense to practice restricting eating in a 12-hour window,” says Assoc. Prof. Satchitananda Panda.

Scientists examined 400 mice, some of which were of normal weight and others – with overweight. They were placed under different feeding regimes with different time limits.

The results showed that mice that were fed a high-fat diet but only had access to food for 12 hours a day were healthier and leaner than mice that who had access to the same food throughout the day, even though both groups consumed the same amount of calories.

The results were the same regardless of whether the food was high in fat, sugar or carbohydrates.

The study also shows that it is not fatal if, for example, on the weekend we have dinner late and heavily. This is unlikely to harm the body’s metabolism, although if done regularly it will have a big impact, scientists believe.

“The fact that the results were the same no matter what the food was, and the fact that the rule was the same regardless of whether the weekend ‘transgressions’ were committed was a very pleasant surprise,” says one of the study’s leaders, Amandine Chaiks. , a researcher in Prof. Panda’s lab.

Mice that were overweight lost 5% of their weight once they were put on a time-restricted diet. At the end of the 38-week study, they were 25 percent lighter than those in the group that continued to eat freely.

At some point, these mice stopped losing weight, but developed healthy muscle mass, according to the study published in the journal Cell Metabolism.

“It is an interesting observation that although mice on a normal diet do not lose weight, they only change their body structure,” adds Prof. Panda.

“This begs the question – what is happening? Are these mice better managing the muscle mass that was lost due to the free feeding, or did they simply gain it using the new regime?”, the scientists ask. .

They are still looking for the answer to this question, but for now one thing is clear. You shouldn’t eat late at night, even according to some nutritionists after 6 p.m.

The reason is that at 2-3 o’clock at night is the peak of synthesis of fats in the body. If a few hours before, for example at 10 p.m., we have eaten, the food goes right to accumulating reserves. And if they go to fat depots, then they are very difficult to break down.