Says research published in the journal ‘Nutrition & Diabetes’, the time of day when you have your meals can have a positive or negative impact on your glucose metabolism, regardless of the number of calories you have consumed throughout the day, and your weight and body fat.
Researchers at Columbia University’s Irving Medical Center in New York studied 26 participants between the ages of 50 and 70, who were overweight or obese, and had prediabetes or type 2 diabetes. They were divided into two groups: Early eaters, who had most of their daily calories before the evening, and late eaters, who consumed 45% or more of their calories after 5p.m. Both the groups had the same number of calories and the same foods during the day, but at different times. Researchers found that the late eaters had a poorer tolerance of glucose, regardless of their weight or the composition of their diet. They tended to eat larger amounts of carbohydrates and fats during the evening. The study recommends that highest levels of calorie intake during the day should be at breakfast and lunch, instead of teatime and dinner. The body’s ability to metabolise glucose is limited at night, because the secretion of insulin is reduced. Also, our cells’ sensitivity to this hormone declines due to the circadian rhythm, which is determined by a central clock in our brain that is coordinated with the hours of daylight and night. An old nutrition advice tells us to eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper!