{"id":887994,"date":"2026-10-19T18:52:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T18:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/887994\/"},"modified":"2026-10-19T18:52:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T18:52:10","slug":"late-night-snacking-raises-risk-of-a-serious-disease-by-20-to-30","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/887994\/","title":{"rendered":"Late-night snacking raises risk of a serious disease by 20% to 30%"},"content":{"rendered":"

A late-night snack attack that\u2019s more like a nightmare.<\/p>\n

The jury\u2019s still out on late-night snacking: some foods boost health<\/a> while you sleep, while others cause not-so-sweet dreams.<\/p>\n

And while a little meal before bedtime may curb your hunger in the short term, eating at the wrong time could increase the risk of a severe disease that causes permanent damage.<\/p>\n

A little meal before bedtime may curb your hunger in the short term, but could raise the risk of a severe condition. pavelkant \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

Americans love to snack<\/a>, although more research points to negative health consequences, from weight gain to a negative impact on liver health.<\/p>\n

A new study published in the journal Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology<\/a> examined nearly 200,000 people across three studies and found that late-night snacking significantly raises the risk of liver disease over time.<\/p>\n

The late-night eaters \u2014 defined as those who ate after dinner or after bedtime \u2014 experienced an increased risk of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease<\/a> (MASLD) or cirrhosis<\/a> in an average follow-up of 16 years.<\/p>\n

Among the late-night eaters, the study found a 20% to 30% increase in all forms of liver disease compared to those who didn\u2019t have late-night snacks.<\/p>\n

The liver has intrinsic circadian clocks<\/a> that coordinate metabolism, so the researchers explored how much of an impact the timing of meals and snacks has on the health of the organ.<\/p>\n

People who ate after dinner or bedtime saw a 20% to 30% increased risk of liver disease. ArvStd \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re 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,\u201d lead author Dr. Robert Wilechansky told the Independent<\/a>.<\/p>\n

MASLD is one of the common types of liver disease, occurring when fat builds up in the liver, which can cause inflammation over time.<\/p>\n

While the condition may not cause symptoms, it can cause more serious liver diseases without treatment, such as severe liver fibrosis or cirrhosis.<\/p>\n

Cirrhosis is a late-stage liver disease where healthy liver tissue is scarred and permanently damaged, preventing the liver from working properly to make protein, fight infections, clean the blood and help digest food.<\/p>\n

Symptoms of cirrhosis can include fatigue, jaundiced skin, easy bruising, severe itching, gallstones and kidney failure.<\/p>\n

Despite a significant number of the study participants showing increased liver disease, Wilechansky noted that \u201cof the people who developed fatty liver disease, only a small fraction develop serious forms of the condition like liver cirrhosis.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team also found that avoiding late-night snacking in the hours before bedtime can help lower the risk of MASLD, cirrhosis and other liver diseases.<\/p>\n

The team believes that the findings show that not just what we eat matters, but timing as well \u2014 similar to other lifestyle habits that affect health.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are seeing over and over again that the timing of behaviors, whether it\u2019s sleep, eating or exercise, really matters,\u201d study co-author Dr. Andrew W. McHill told the Independent.<\/p>\n

A woman is seen eating a treat from the refrigerator. Pixel-Shot \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

Eating at night, when the body\u2019s internal clock is focused on sleep, reduces the body\u2019s ability to metabolize food efficiently.<\/p>\n

Over time, this can lead to negative health outcomes, including obesity, diabetes and poor liver health.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A late-night snack attack that\u2019s more like a nightmare. The jury\u2019s still out on late-night snacking: some foods…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":887995,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[8006,97,1494,27022,3284],"class_list":["post-887994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-diseases","tag-health","tag-medical-disorders","tag-snacks","tag-study-says"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887994","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=887994"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887994\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/887995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=887994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=887994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=887994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}