The surprising risk may have less to do with what you eat than when you eat.
Nearly 200,000 adults helped researchers uncover a potentially overlooked risk to liver health: late-night eating.
A new study from Oregon Health & Science University found that adults who reported eating after dinner or before bed had about 20 to 30 percent higher rates of liver disease than those who didn’t. The findings challenge the familiar assumption that healthy eating is only about food choices and portion sizes.
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Why Eating Late Can Affect Your Liver
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Researchers examined diet and lifestyle information from nearly 200,000 participants in three major long-term studies, including the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study.
The association involved steatotic liver disease associated with metabolic dysfunction, commonly known as fatty liver, and cirrhosis.
“We know that the liver is very in tune with the body’s circadian rhythms,” said Robert Wilechansky, MD, an OHSU hepatologist and lead author of the study.
“So we want to change the timing of eating in a way that could impact health, without changing the composition of what people eat.”
The liver helps regulate metabolism throughout the day. Researchers suspect that eating when the body’s internal clock is preparing for sleep may interfere with normal metabolic processes.
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The surprising change researchers want to test
The findings don’t mean everyone who eats before bed will develop liver disease. The researchers relied on self-reported eating habits and the observational study cannot establish cause and effect.
“It’s important to remember that among people who have developed fatty liver disease, only a small fraction develop severe forms of the disease like liver cirrhosis,” Wilechansky said.
“Even so, the important point to remember here is that limiting your calorie intake to several hours before bedtime could be beneficial.”
OHSU researchers are currently recruiting participants for a clinical trial to determine whether earlier feeding improves measures of fatty liver disease.
“We keep finding that the timing of a behavior, whether it’s sleeping, eating, or exercising, really matters,” said co-author Andrew McHill, PhD, a sleep and circadian physiologist.
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This story was originally published by Men’s Journal on October 11, 2026, where he first appeared in the Health section. Add Men’s Journal as Favorite source by clicking here.
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