What you eat for dinner and when you eat it could play a big role in your blood sugar levels the next morning.
This is especially important for people with prediabetes, a condition where blood sugar is higher than normal but not yet in the diabetes range.
A new study shows that your last meal of the day may affect your body’s ability to keep blood sugar levels stable overnight and in the morning.
This research was done by scientists from the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) along with experts from Columbia University and other U.S. institutions. They wanted to know how evening meals affect fasting glucose—the amount of sugar in your blood after not eating overnight.
This is important because morning blood sugar levels are used to check for diabetes and to manage it.
In the study, 33 adults aged 50 to 75, who were overweight or obese and had prediabetes, took part. They ate meals at scheduled times and wore a continuous glucose monitor that tracked their blood sugar all night. The researchers found that not just the type of food, but also the timing of the last meal had a big effect on morning blood sugar levels.
If the last meal was eaten late in the evening, the body had more trouble regulating blood sugar. Meals high in carbohydrates, especially if eaten late, made things worse. This means people with prediabetes may benefit from eating earlier and avoiding too many carbs at dinner.
Also, people who are less sensitive to insulin had a harder time controlling blood sugar, no matter what time they ate.
Another interesting part of the study was how a person’s “chronotype” affected results.
Chronotype means whether you are a morning person or a night owl.
Researchers believe that people’s internal body clocks influence how well their bodies process sugar at night. So, advice about meal timing may work better if it also considers whether someone is naturally more active in the morning or evening.
Diana Díaz-Rizzolo, a lead researcher, says we should consider three things when giving diet advice to people with prediabetes or insulin resistance. First, watch the amount and type of carbohydrates in the last meal. Second, adjust the carbs based on how sensitive someone is to insulin.
And third, avoid eating too late at night. These steps can help prevent blood sugar spikes during the night and lower fasting glucose levels in the morning.
New technology is also helping. Continuous glucose monitors and mobile apps let people track their sugar levels in real time. Some researchers are even using artificial intelligence (AI) to better understand how overnight fasting affects metabolism.
They’ve created a method to measure “biological overnight fasts,” or the actual time your body goes without food, not just the clock time.
Using this technology, doctors may soon be able to give more personalized advice. They could recommend the best time to eat dinner, the right foods for your metabolism, and even predict who might develop diabetes in the future.
This is a big change from one-size-fits-all diet plans. Instead, treatment will be tailored to each person’s needs, based on data and science.
In short, what and when you eat at night really does matter—especially if you are at risk for diabetes. With the help of smart devices and AI, better and more personalized care is now possible.
The study is published in Nutrients.
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