The authors of the new study, from Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) and Massachusetts General Hospital, found a 28 percent higher risk of cirrhosis and a 36 percent higher risk of MASLD among late-night eaters compared to those with more standard eating times.<\/p>\n
Late-night eating was defined as eating “after bedtime” or “between dinner and bedtime.”<\/p>\n
To put that increased risk into perspective, cirrhosis remained uncommon, with 315 cases among nearly 200,000 participants over the follow-up period.<\/p>\n
The researchers think that our circadian rhythms<\/a>, the built-in cycles that sync our bodies with daytime and nighttime, may explain the link.<\/p>\n “A few studies have hinted at this idea, but this is among the first long-term analyses to explicitly draw the connection to fatty liver disease,” says<\/a> hepatologist Robert Wilechansky, from OHSU.<\/p>\n “We know the liver is very much in tune with the body’s circadian rhythms. So we’re interested in changing the timing of eating in a way that could make a difference in health, without changing the composition of what people eat.”<\/p>\n The median follow-up time for the study was 16 years, with adjustments made to factor in variables including age, body mass index (BMI), and physical activity. The late-night eating association remained significant after the adjustments.<\/p>\n While the study can’t prove direct cause and effect, and other factors might be at play here \u2013 sleep timing and quality weren’t accounted for in this analysis, for example \u2013 the researchers suggest that the different way the body processes food at night could be having an influence.<\/p>\n We all have multiple circadian clocks running in our bodies, and the liver does its own timekeeping as well as connecting to the main circadian rhythms. <\/p>\n It’s possible that the liver isn’t prepared to efficiently deal with food late into the evening, resulting in more fat building up and blood sugar levels rising \u2013 though these ideas will need further testing.<\/p>\n “Our findings add to the growing body of literature linking late-evening eating patterns to adverse metabolic and liver outcomes,” write<\/a> the researchers in their published paper.<\/p>\n “This relationship is biologically plausible; higher evening caloric intake may lead to obesity and metabolic derangement via decreased insulin sensitivity and lower energy utilization at night.”<\/p>\n Further research could look at exactly what late-night eating consisted of \u2013 in this analysis the snacking time was logged, but not the snack \u2013 as well as measuring indicators like blood sugar and liver fat more directly. <\/p>\n An OHSU team that includes Wilechansky is already recruiting for a more thorough clinical trial<\/a>.<\/p>\n “The effects of late-evening food intake on liver disease should be further studied in diverse populations, incorporating liver imaging and markers of liver disease severity,” write<\/a> the researchers. <\/p>\n “Confirmation of these results would have the potential to impact best practices in nutrition for chronic liver disease.”<\/p>\n MASLD, also known as fatty liver disease, is when metabolic issues (such as obesity) lead to fat building up in the liver. In some people, it can cause scarring, which can then lead to cirrhosis, where the liver is permanently damaged and can eventually start to fail.<\/p>\n Knowing more about how these two conditions are triggered or exacerbated will help with prevention and treatments going forward. It could be that one way of reducing your risk of liver disease is as simple as being disciplined about eating times \u2013 an easier ask than a diet or exercise regime.<\/p>\n “We are seeing over and over again that the timing of behaviors, whether it’s sleep, eating or exercise, really matters,” says<\/a> sleep and circadian physiologist Andrew McHill, from OHSU.<\/p>\n The research has been published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology<\/a>.<\/p>\n This article was fact-checked by Rebecca Dyer<\/a> and edited by Rebecca Dyer<\/a>. While we pride ourselves on our process, we are only human. If you spot a mistake, please let us know<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It may be time to rethink those late-night raids on the fridge or the cookie and chip cupboard:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":884101,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[97,1352],"class_list":["post-884100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-health","tag-msft-content"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=884100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/884101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=884100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=884100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=884100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"YouTube](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792136653_458_0.jpg\")
frameborder=”0\u2033 allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share” referrerpolicy=”strict-origin-when-cross-origin” allowfullscreen><\/p>\n![\"Liver](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/DamagedLiver.jpg\")
A healthy liver (left) and a liver damaged by cirrhosis (right). (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases<\/a>)<\/p>\n