Women wanting to protect their heart, should eat most of their calories earlier in the day, a new study suggests.
Researchers found heart disease risk factors worsened when a large proportion of daily calories were consumed after 6 p.m., and even more so, after 8 p.m., according to a report presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2019.
When women — and men, to a lesser degree — eat their biggest meal at night, they are fighting their biological clocks, said the study’s lead author, Nour Makarem, an associate research scientist at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center.
“We evolved to adopt a 24-hour light and dark cycle, meaning we eat and are active during the day and we sleep at night,” Makarem explained. “But our more demanding work schedules and commutes push everything later and now we are eating at unconventional times.”