Late snacks may not cause weight gain

PORTLAND, Ore. – There may be a little good news for people who eat late at night. A study on monkeys suggests the snacking does not appear to contribute to weight gain, so long as it doesn’t involve a lot of extra calories.

“We’ve all been told at one point in our lives that we should avoid eating meals late at night, as it will lead to weight gain,” said Judy Cameron, a senior scientist at the Oregon National Primate Research Center, part of the Oregon Health and Science University.

But Cameron said a study using rhesus monkeys indicates that eating at night is no more likely to result in weight gain than eating during the day.

“Of course, this research does not suggest that snacking at night after eating your normal daily ration of calories is a good idea,” Cameron said.

Scientists studied 16 female rhesus monkeys that were placed on a high-fat diet similar to the diet normally consumed in the United States and other Western countries. The researchers then observed the monkeys for a year. In addition to studying their weight gain, researchers noted how much and when the animals ate.

They found that the monkeys ate between 6 percent and 64 percent of their total calories at night. This is comparable to humans, who take in approximately 24 percent to 65 percent of total calories at night.

“It was really interesting to see that the monkeys who ate most of their food at night were no more likely to gain weight than monkeys who rarely ate at night,” said Elinor Sullivan, one of the researchers.

The research appears in the current edition of the journal Obesity Research.

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