Avoid Late Night Eating To Prevent Heart Disease & Stroke – Scientists Warn

Avoid Late Night Eating To Prevent Heart Disease & Stroke – Scientists Warn

Several Scientists that attended the American Heart Association (AHA)’s Scientific Sessions annual meeting, have urged people who want to stay healthy to avoid eating late at night.

These are the findings of a new study presented during the AHA 2018 meeting, which held in Chicago in the United States (US). According to the lead author of the study and Postdoctoral Fellow in Cardiology at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Nour Makarem, late-night eating was associated with increased risk of heart disease.

Considering that cardiac issues -high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes are on the rise, experts believe that eating later and going to bed later– than previous generations, may be a factor in these skyrocketing health conditions. Cardiovascular disease generally refers to conditions that involve narrowed or blocked blood vessels that can lead to a heart attack, chest pain (angina) or stroke.

Other heart conditions, such as those that affect the heart’s muscle, valves or rhythm, also are considered forms of heart disease. The study’s results, according to Shared online, also provided a better understanding of how the human body clocks work with external factors.

Makarem said there was a part of the brain called the suprachiasmatic nucleus, which tells the body when it’s time to sleep, wake up, and eat. “When we change our eating schedules, our body’s clocks are affected and this can lead to issues with metabolism. These clocks are regulated by bright-light exposure, but also by behaviours, particularly food signals,” he said.

The research team examined over 12,000 U.S. adults between the ages of 18 and 76 and found that 50 per cent of the study’s participants ate 30 per cent of their calories after 6 p.m.

These people had higher levels of fasting blood sugar— a sign of prediabetes, higher levels of insulin, higher blood pressure and higher levels of HOMA-IR, a marker that indicates resistance to insulin, in comparison with those who ate fewer calories after 6 p.m.

Previous studies conducted by Canadian psychologists showed that eating at night affected sleep patterns, and included weird dreams in 18 per cent of the participants. Similarly, experts have also discovered that eating before shortly before going to bed can contribute to acid reflux. Another study from the University of California showed a negative effect on long-term memory by late night eating.