A late-night snack crisis that feels more like a nightmare.
The jury is still out on nighttime snacking: Some foods improve sleep health, while others induce not-so-sweet dreams.
And while a small meal before bed may reduce your hunger in the short term, eating at the wrong time could increase your risk of serious illness leading to permanent damage.
Americans love to snack, even as more and more research points to negative health consequences, ranging from weight gain to a negative impact on liver health.
A new study published in the journal Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology examined nearly 200,000 people across three studies and found that late-night snacking significantly increases the risk of liver disease over time.
Late-night eaters – defined as those who ate after dinner or after bed – had an increased risk of steatotic liver disease associated with metabolic dysfunction (MASLD) or cirrhosis during a mean follow-up of 16 years.
Among late-night eaters, the study found a 20 to 30 percent increase in all forms of liver disease compared to those who didn’t eat late-night snacks.
The liver has intrinsic circadian clocks that coordinate metabolism. Researchers therefore studied the impact of the timing of meals and snacks on the health of the organ.
“We want to change the timing of eating in a way that could impact health without changing the composition of what people eat,” lead author Dr. Robert Wilechansky told The Independent.
MASLD is one of the common types of liver disease, occurring when fat builds up in the liver, which can cause inflammation over time.
Although this disease does not cause symptoms, it can cause more serious liver diseases without treatment, such as severe liver fibrosis or cirrhosis.
Cirrhosis is an advanced liver disease in which healthy liver tissue becomes scarred and permanently damaged, preventing the liver from functioning properly to produce proteins, fight infections, clean the blood, and help digest food.
Symptoms of cirrhosis may include fatigue, jaundice of the skin, easy bruising, severe itching, gallstones, and kidney failure.
Although a significant number of study participants have increased liver disease, Wilechansky noted that “among people who developed fatty liver disease, only a small fraction develop severe forms of the disease such as liver cirrhosis.”
The team also found that avoiding nighttime snacks in the hours before bed may help reduce the risk of MASLD, cirrhosis, and other liver diseases.
The team believes the findings show that not only what we eat matters, but also when we eat – like other lifestyle habits that affect health.
“We keep finding that the timing of a behavior, whether it’s sleeping, eating or exercising, really matters,” study co-author Dr. Andrew W. McHill told The Independent.
Eating at night, when the body’s internal clock is focused on sleep, reduces the body’s ability to metabolize food efficiently.
Over time, this can lead to poor health outcomes, including obesity, diabetes, and now, poor liver health.
Gn Health
