Researchers from the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) in Barcelona, Spain and Columbia University in the United States, have revealed that eating at least 45 per cent of your daily calories after 5pm hinders the body’s ability to regulate blood sugar levels.

The results of the study are published in in the journal ‘Nutrition and Diabetes’. One of the study’s co-authors, Dr Diana Díaz Rizzolo, said:

‘The body’s ability to metabolise glucose is limited at night, because the secretion of insulin is reduced, and 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.’

The study included 26 people 50 to 75 years old who were overweight or had obesity and prediabetes or type 2 diabetes. People were divided into two groups: early eaters and late eaters.

They ate the same foods and the same amount of calories, just at different times of the day. Those who ate more after 5 pm, the later eaters, had higher glucose levels after a glucose test, suggesting poorer glucose tolerance.

Intermittent fasting, meanwhile, has been shown to significantly improve the body’s ability to effectively use glucose from food.