Scientists have found that eating late increases the risk of developing cardiovascular disease. And that’s why.
Experts at Columbia University monitored the eating habits of 112 women for a year. Volunteers were asked to keep weekly food diaries. At the very beginning of the experiment and closer to its end, each recorded what and at what time ate. The results were as follows.
Women who consumed most of their daily calories after 6 pm had high blood pressure, were overweight, and could not control their blood sugar levels. These are the points the American Heart Association pays attention to when determining the risk of cardiovascular disease.
In total, the association identified 7 important metrics, and people who followed at least 5 of them reduced the likelihood of heart problems by 78%. If you want to keep yourself safe, here are some tips.
Quit smoking. Harmful substances in tobacco can damage and constrict your blood vessels.
Measure your blood pressure. Hypertension is one of the most important risk factors for CVD. If your blood pressure is too high, it can damage your blood vessels.
Follow your cholesterol. It is a fatty substance found in the blood. High cholesterol levels narrow blood vessels and increase the risk of developing a blood clot.
Monitor your sugar levels. High blood sugar can also lead to vasoconstriction. Diabetes is a lifelong condition in which your blood sugar gets too high.
Watch your weight. Being overweight or obese increases the risk of diabetes and high blood pressure.
Be proactive. Going in for sports, you improve your metabolism, which means that excess weight and everything that it causes (see the paragraph above) does not threaten you.
Eat well. A balanced diet with no junk food can also help keep your weight in check.
“Until now, studying heart disease, we started from what and how much people eat. However, a late dinner imposed by an irregular schedule or a frantic pace of life is also not good for our body, ”commented Dr. Makarem. “Preliminary research results show that adjusting your evening meal can significantly reduce your risk of heart disease.”
Professor Christine Newby also supported the colleague. “I think the study provides new insights into nutrition that we haven’t thought about before,” she added.
Similar studies have been carried out before. In 2016, scientists came to the conclusion that food activates the body, although by the evening, on the contrary, it should relax. In the evening, blood pressure should drop by at least 10%, but food prevents this. Experts believe this is because food activates stress hormones that keep him from relaxing.
But it is a mistake to believe that late dinners are harmful exclusively for women. For example, Harvard researchers found that men who regularly indulged in midnight snacks were 55% more likely to develop coronary heart disease.