Health, what happens to the body if you eat late at night? The study

New research from Oregon Health & Science University suggests that if you want to maintain liver health, you should think twice before indulging in a late-night snack. The study, published today in the journal Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, documents an increased correlation between people who reported eating late at night (i.e. after dinner or after going to bed) and a greater risk of two types of liver disease: fatty liver disease associated with metabolic dysfunction and cirrhosis.

Previous research has linked late-night snacking to heart disease and obesity, but in the new study, researchers set out to find a sign of liver disease in late-night eating. “Some studies have previously hinted at this possibility, but this is one of the first long-term analyzes to explicitly establish a link to hepatic steatosis,” said lead author Robert Wilechansky, MD, a hepatologist at OHSU who specializes in liver transplants.

Wilechansky noted that night workers face an alteration of the natural sleep-wake cycle, resulting in high rates of obesity and heart disease. Considering that up to 30 percent of the US population suffers from fatty liver disease, he wondered whether small changes in meal times could make a difference. “We know that the liver is closely synchronized with the body's circadian rhythms,” he said. “So we're interested in changing meal times in a way that can make a difference to health, without altering the composition of the diet.”

The researchers analyzed three large, pre-existing national datasets: the Nurses' Health Study, the Nurses' Health Study II, and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. They extracted self-reported eating and lifestyle habits from nearly 200,000 participants across all three studies, grouped them by eating behaviors, and then looked for correlations with people who reported suffering from fatty liver disease or cirrhosis. They found a 20 to 30 percent increase in all forms of liver disease in the group of people who reported eating late at night compared to those who did not. “It's important to remember that, among people who develop fatty liver disease, only a small percentage develop severe forms of the disease such as liver cirrhosis,” Wilechansky said. “Nevertheless, the bottom line is that limiting calorie intake a few hours before bedtime could be beneficial.”