Eating a Late Breakfast and Dinner Post 9 PM Can Significantly Up Your Heart Attack Risk: Study

Eating meals earlier can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Communications.

In their study, researchers looked at data from 103,389 adults with a median age of 42 who participated in the NutriNet-Santé study.

The researchers observed the following findings associated with meal timings between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m.:

• Delaying the day’s first meal was associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease.
• Each additional hour of delay was associated with an 6% increase in cerebrovascular disease.
• Eating a last meal of the day after 9 p.m. was associated with a 28% higher risk of cerebrovascular disease than those who ate before 8 p.m.
• No significant additional risk was associated with the number of times someone ate.
• Each additional hour of nighttime fasting (eating an earlier evening meal rather than delaying breakfast) was associated with a 7% lower risk of cerebrovascular disease.

The researchers added that the differences in negative associations in the timing of the day’s last meal were more significant in women than in men.

“Circadian rhythms are cyclic endogenous (built-in) biological patterns that follow a 24-hour cycle that regulates the timing of physiology, metabolism, and behavior,”. 

“When your mealtimes don’t match your body clock, it may spike fat-storing hormones, causing weight gain. There’s a Circadian Rhythm Diet based on the ideal times to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. That being said, I think that timing of eating should be considered in relation to our overall health.”

References: Palomar-Cros, A., Andreeva, V.A., Fezeu, L.K. et al. Dietary circadian rhythms and cardiovascular disease risk in the prospective NutriNet-Santé cohort. Nat Commun 14, 7899 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-43444-3