Nutrition myth: Eating after 7pm will cause weight gain

A lot individuals have this idea that you can’t eat after a certain time (namely 7pm) because you will begin to gain fat if you do. This myth is completely and utterly false, the human body doesn’t know what time of the day it is and won’t start storing just fat after a certain time of the day.

The origin of this myth came from a study conducted by a university student in the NorthWestern University, Kirkland, United States of America. This student that conducted this experiment performed it on mice. At the end of the study, mice who ate during sleeping hours (7pm and later) gained more weight than those that did not eat during sleeping hours (7pm and earlier). This was then misconceived to be the same thing that would happen to humans because humans share 85% of their genomes with mice, however in terms of this weight gain concept if you eat after 7pm it is false.

The evidence below disproves the above myth.

According to an article published by Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. A test was conducted with a total of 15 participants that all live relatively the same healthy lifestyle, however the participants were split and were informed to do the following: 5 participants were told to eat their dinner 1 hour before 7 pm, 5 participants were told to eat their dinner at 7pm, and 5 participants were told to eat dinner 1 hour after 7pm.

This test was conduct for a month and the participant’s weights’ were all recorded at the end of every week and the results we all the same across the board. Not a single participant gained or lost weight because of the time they ate dinner in the evening.

To clarify, your body only breaks down the food you consume and doesn’t know what time of the day it is. You can however manipulate your metabolism by your eating frequency and the quality of food you consume, by eating smaller meals every 2-3 hours this can built up your metabolism to break down food faster and tap into consuming fat stores when you don’t have a meal/ food in your system.

This is a brief discussion on the 7pm myth, however if you have more questions on this topic feel free to email ronin@macromeals.co.za as well as for personal training &/or meal prep assistance.