In a study from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, scientists found that when people eat strongly impacts our energy expenditure, appetite, and molecular pathways in adipose tissue.
Previous research by us and others had shown that late eating is associated with increased obesity risk, increased body fat, and impaired weight loss success.
In the current study, researchers examined 16 patients with a body mass index (BMI) in the overweight or obese range.
Each participant completed two laboratory protocols: one with a strictly scheduled early meal schedule, and the other with the exact same meals, each scheduled about four hours later in the day.
In the last two to three weeks before starting each of the in-laboratory protocols, participants maintained fixed sleep and wake schedules, and in the final three days before entering the laboratory, they strictly followed identical diets and meal schedules at home.
In the lab, participants regularly documented their hunger and appetite, provided frequent small blood samples throughout the day, and had their body temperature and energy expenditure measured.
The team found that eating later had profound effects on hunger and appetite-regulating hormones leptin and ghrelin, which influence our drive to eat.
Specifically, levels of the hormone leptin, which signals satiety, were decreased across the 24 hours in the late eating condition compared to the early eating conditions.
When participants ate later, they also burned calories at a slower rate and exhibited adipose tissue gene expression towards increased adipogenesis and decreased lipolysis, which promote fat growth.
These findings convey converging physiological and molecular mechanisms underlying the correlation between late eating and increased obesity risk.
In future studies, Scheer’s team aims to recruit more women to increase the generalizability of their findings to a broader population.
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The study was conducted by Frank A. J. L. Scheer et al and published in Cell Metabolism.
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