WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Eating at the right time of day might be more important for heart health than when you sleep, especially for people who work night shifts, according to a new study published in Nature Communications.
Researchers at Mass General Brigham conducted a two-week study with 20 healthy young adults. During the study, participants stayed in a controlled lab environment with no windows, clocks, or electronic devices, so their bodies couldn't rely on outside cues to know the time.
The participants followed a strict routine. They stayed awake for 32 hours in dim light, didn't change their posture, and ate the same small snacks every hour. After this, they took part in a simulated night shift. Half of them ate during the night, while the other half ate only during the day. Both groups took naps at the same times, so the only real difference was when they ate.
Researchers measured heart health indicators before and after the simulated night work. They looked at things like blood pressure, blood clot risk, and nervous system activity.
The results showed that people who ate both day and night had worse heart health after the night shifts with a significant rise in their risk markers. But in those who ate only during the day, those same heart risk markers didn't increase, even though both groups ate the same amount and types of food.
'Our study controlled for every factor that you could imagine that could affect the results, so we can say that it's the food timing effect that is driving these changes in the cardiovascular risk factors,' concluded lead author Sarah Chellappa, an associate professor at the University of Southampton.
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