Does Eating Late at Night Promote Weight Gain?
“It was really interesting to see that the monkeys who ate most of their food at night were no more likely to gain weight than monkeys who rarely ate at night,” said Elinor Sullivan, an OHSU graduate student conducting research along with Cameron at the Oregon National Primate Research Center. “This suggests that calories cause weight gain no matter when you eat them.” -comments on the result of a study that observed the eating pattern of monkeys for a year. -ScienceDaily
This is only 1 study on a few monkeys, and if you read on, researchers also made the following statement: “Overall, this research shows that caloric intake does not specifically correlate to weight gain,” -Medical News Talk about throwing a monkey wrench into our beliefs on weight gain!
Some of our preliminary data presented at the 2005 Society for Neuroscience Meeting shows that a person’s activity level is a better predictor of weight gain and loss.
MY COMMENT: I am not buying into that last statement, however I do believe that it does not make much difference when you take in your calories. Just eat some popcorn or another low calorie snack if you are hungry at night. An extra 100 calories per day will add up over time if you do it consistently, so the key is to monitor weight and balance your intake appropriately when you begin seeing a gradual climb.
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