Following this advice also improves the quality of sleep.
Nearly one in two French people are overweight. And 8.5 million suffer from obesity. Eating is expensive, so sometimes you have to turn to lower-quality products to save money. But cheaper products often also mean products that are less good for your health and weight. Another alternative could be interesting to avoid gaining weight or even losing weight, namely eating meals at certain times. The French National Agency for Food Safety (ANSES) has looked into this idea and looked more closely at the health effects of distributing food intake throughout the day. According to its conclusions, dinner time should not be neglected.
Anses has analyzed all the scientific literature relating to chrononutrition (dietary method adapted to the biological clock) and noted “a lack of robust studies” in this area. However, the available data confirm a link between high energy intake in the evening and an increased risk of obesity. In short, eating too many calories in the evening makes you gain more weight. But that’s not all.
Studies show that food intake is distributed continuously in adults from approximately 6:00 a.m. to midnight. With three periods during which the number of food intakes is higher:
- a period between 12:00 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. which may correspond to lunch,
- another between 7:00 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. which could correspond to dinner
- and another between 4:00 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., which could correspond to snack time.
The duration of the night fast (between the last meal in the evening and the first in the morning) is on average 11 hours and 22 minutes in adults. The agency notes an “association” between a late dinner or a dinner too close to bedtime and weight gain, obesity and an increase in cardiometabolic risk factors (blood pressure, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, dyslipidemia, fasting blood sugar).
Eating too late therefore makes you fat. Anses therefore recommends having an early dinner and having an interval of at least 2 hours (for adults) between dinner and bedtime. In concrete terms, a person who goes to bed at 10:30 p.m. should finish their dinner at 8:30 p.m. This habit will improve weight management, digestion and quality of sleep.
