Night workers might benefit from daytime eating
Research we're watching
If you work the night shift, eating your meals during the day might help your health. A small trial found that people who followed night shift hours for 14 days and also ate some meals at night saw a rise in their blood sugar levels, potentially putting them at higher risk for conditions such as diabetes, obesity, and heart disease.
The study, published online Dec. 3, 2021, by Science Advances, assigned 19 young participants to follow a laboratory protocol that simulated night shift work hours. Half of the group ate some of their meals during the day and some at night, as people on the night shift often do. The other group ate all of their meals during the day. The researchers found that people in the nighttime meal group saw an average increase of 6.4% from their baseline blood sugar level. The people who ate only during the day did not see a significant increase in blood sugar.
This study shows that timing meals differently could potentially help night shift workers avoid some of the health risks associated with a late-night work schedule. But more study is needed to further explore the results.
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About the Author
Maureen Salamon, Executive Editor, Harvard Women's Health Watch
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