Eating your evening meal early, specifically a few hours before sleeping, could reduce the risk of developing diabetes. Explanations.
- Diabetes is a chronic disease characterized by an excess of sugar in the blood, called “hyperglycemia”.
- The high levels of melatonin and the consumption of carbohydrates associated with late meals are thought to impair blood sugar control.
We know that eating early has many health benefits. This habit improves sleep and stabilizes weight. According to a study published in the journal Diabetes Care January 10eating several hours before bed could also prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes. “We decided to test whether eating late, which usually occurs when melatonin levels are high, leads to disruption of blood sugar control,” said Richa Saxena, co-lead author of the work and principal investigator at the Center for Genomic Medicine in Boston.
For the purposes of the research, the scientists recruited 845 adults in Spain, “a population that naturally eats late”. All participants fasted for eight hours. The following evening, they ate 4 hours before their usual sleep time. Then the next day, they had a late meal (an hour before bed).
The study authors looked at the genetic code, specifically the melatonin receptor gene (MTNR1B). They decided to analyze it because previous research has linked a variant of MTNR1B to an elevated risk of type 2 diabetes.
Eat dinner early so as not to disrupt blood sugar control
“Blood melatonin levels were 3.5 times higher after a late meal compared to an early dinner”, can we read in the results of the study. Dinnertime also caused insulin levels to drop and blood sugar to rise.
“We found that eating late disrupted blood sugar control. Furthermore, this impaired blood sugar control was seen primarily in carriers of the genetic risk variant, which accounted for about half of the participants in the study. ‘study”, explained Marta Garaulet, professor at the University of Murcia and co-author of the work. The researchers clarified that it would be better to refrain from eating at least two hours before bedtime.
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