Should you avoid eating at night? (February 2026)
Carrie Dennett, MPH, RDN
The advice to avoid eating at night is so common—usually in the context of dieting and weight loss—that it’s practically become gospel. But is it true that eating at night causes weight gain or harms health? Let’s take a look at the research..
More than a decade ago, a study did find that eating at night lead to significant weight gain, compared with eating during the day—but that study was on mice. Research on humans is a little more nuanced.
For example, a 2023 study randomly assigned 16 people with a body mass index (BMI) in the “overweight” or “obese” range to either eat their meals earlier in the day (8 a.m., noon and 4 p.m.) or later in the day (noon, 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.) during a six-day laboratory stay. Several weeks later they returned to the lab to eat the same number of calories, but on the opposite schedule. The researchers discovered that when participants ate later in the day, they tended to feel hungrier and have lower levels of leptin—a hormone that makes you feel full. They also burned fewer calories during the day. However, the researchers noted that it’s unclear if following this schedule long term would lead to weight gain, or if the body would adapt over time.
There are a few good reasons to try to avoid eating at night, but they have more to do with health. One obvious reason is that if you experience heartburn or acid reflux, eating too close to bedtime could make them worse. Also, evolving research strongly suggests that eating at the “wrong” time of day causes a misalignment in our circadian rhythms, or internal clocks, that can increase our risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and other health conditions. Why? Because our bodies are designed to eat and be active during the day and fast and rest at night.
Because of this design, the body more effectively uses calories and carbohydrates earlier in the day, which helps support stable blood sugar levels. But just as night eating can disrupt circadian rhythms, so can skipping breakfast—something many people do because they don’t feel hungry in the morning (which often happens because of long-term breakfast-skipping), find it hard to make time, or are intentionally restricting their food intake.
Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) suggests that eating at night—especially if it’s frequent—is associated with increased risk of premature death a variety of causes. But night eating was defined as eating after 10 p.m., and it appeared that eating low-calorie foods at night wasn’t a problem.
If it works with your schedule to wrap up your day’s eating early in the evening, great. But what can you do if your schedule means you have to eat dinner late? Skipping dinner isn’t the answer, but you could try to make that meal a lighter one that’s higher in protein than in carbohydrates, and make breakfast and lunch your bigger meals.
What if you eat dinner at a “normal” time, but want to eat more than just a light snack later in the evening? If you’re hungry at that time, you might explore whether you’re eating enough during the day. If you’re not hungry, is your evening eating is related to stress or emotional eating? Is it due to deeply ingrained habits such as eating while watching TV?
Finally, if you often find yourself waking up to eat on more than four nights per week, talk to your doctor, because this could be a sign of night eating syndrome, an eating disorder that is often coupled with a sleep disorder.
References:
Arble DM, et al. Circadian timing of food intake contributes to weight gain. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2009 Nov;17(11):2100-2. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3499064/
Vujović N, et al. Late isocaloric eating increases hunger, decreases energy expenditure, and modifies metabolic pathways in adults with overweight and obesity. Cell Metab. 2022 Oct 4;34(10):1486-1498.e7. https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(22)00397-7
Jakubowicz D, et al. Interaction Between Early Meals (Big-Breakfast Diet), Clock Gene mRNA Expression, and Gut Microbiome to Regulate Weight Loss and Glucose Metabolism in Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes. Int J Mol Sci. 2024 Nov 18;25(22):12355.https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11594859/
Verde L, Di Lorenzo T, Savastano S, Colao A, Barrea L, Muscogiuri G. Chrononutrition in type 2 diabetes mellitus and obesity: A narrative review. Diabetes Metab Res Rev. 2024 Feb;40(2):e3778. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38363031/
Wang P, et al. Night eating in timing, frequency, and food quality and risks of all-cause, cancer, and diabetes mortality: findings from national health and nutrition examination survey. Nutr Diabetes. 2024 Feb 27;14(1):5. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10899630/
