MIND THE GAP? MUNCHING BEFORE BED IS NOT THE ISSUE

Whether or not you should eat before bedtime has become an extremely hot topic over the years. For decades we have been led to believe that going to bed less than two hours since your last meal of the day can have long-term detrimental effects on your health, leading to issues such as increased risk of cancer and weight gain.

But a team of researchers from the Graduate School of Health Sciences at Okayama University in Japan have debunked this myth, revealing that the two-hour rule isn’t beneficial for your health and, in fact, is unlikely to affect your blood glucose levels.

To conduct the study, published in the journal BMJ Nutrition, Prevention and Health, the researchers analysed data gathered between 2012 and 2014 from 1573 healthy adults from Okayama in western Japan.

None of the individuals had underlying health conditions related to diabetes, the majority were over 65 years old, and two-thirds were women.

The team assessed the eating patterns of the group, as well as their lifestyle factors, such as their weight, how fast they eat, their physical activity and whether they smoke.

Their HbA1c levels were also monitored, which indicates blood glucose levels.

In Japan, the public health recommendation is to leave two hours between dinner and bed at least three times a week. Only a minority of the study’s participants regularly went to bed within two hours of eating dinner.

The study found while the average HbA1c levels of the group rose slightly throughout the study – with an increase from 5.2 per cent in 2012 to 5.58 per cent in 2013 and 2014 – leaving the two-hour gap between dinner and bed had very little effect on the rise.

Instead, other lifestyle factors such as lack of physical activity, excessive drinking and smoking habits were greatly responsible for the increased blood glucose levels.

According to Healthline, the problem with eating at night and gaining weight doesn’t come down to your metabolism storing calories as fat at night; instead, weight gain is caused by unhealthy habits that often accompany bedtime snacking.

Healthline states the benefits of eating before bedtime include it may curb midnight snacking and aid weight loss, it may improve sleep quality and it may help stabilise morning blood sugar.