If you're one of those people who "grabs" on the fridge more often than anything else, you can easily blame the "hunger hormone" for this habit, if scientists are to be believed.
Researchers have found that in the evening, hormone levels change, which affects appetite, which can lead to overeating.
It is surprising that stress and a predisposition to gain weight increase hunger in the evening hours. How to solve this problem? Eat earlier.
The study, conducted by researchers from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and the New York University School of Medicine, was published in the International Journal of Obesity.
32 overweight people between the ages of 18 and 50 participated in the research.
Half of the respondents had an eating disorder, which is defined as uncontrolled overeating that leads to weight gain.
Each subject was asked to participate in two experiments. In the first, it was required that they do not eat any food for eight hours, so that after that, at 9 in the morning, they would receive a "liquid meal" which included 608 calories.
In the second experiment, the same was requested, but they received a "liquid meal" at 16 pm.
About 130 minutes after each meal, the participants underwent a stress test. They had to hold a bucket of cold water in their hand for two minutes while their facial expressions were recorded.
The subjects were offered food and drink, which included pizza, cakes, chips, sweets and water 30 minutes after the start of the test.
They also had blood samples taken that monitored the stress hormone, cortisol, as well as the "hunger hormone" ghrelin and the peptide hormone.
They were also asked to indicate their level of hunger and satiety before each experiment. The aim of the research was to determine how which part of the day affects appetite and whether stress has any influence.
"It has become common to eat later in the day, and stress increases appetite. Little is known about how time of day and stress affect appetite and thus weight," the researchers state.
The results showed that the subjects felt more hungry in the evening. It was found that the level of ghrelin, which stimulates the appetite, is higher after the afternoon meal than after the morning meal, while the level of the peptide hormone, which reduces appetite, is lower.
Also, stress has a greater effect on ghrelin in the evening hours. As a final conclusion, the researchers stated that overeating is most likely to occur in the evening due to changes in hunger hormones that are also affected by stress.
However, there is something we can do to avoid succumbing to the evening temptation.
"Just by knowing this, we can do something to reduce the risk of overeating by eating earlier or finding an alternative way to deal with stress," says study leader Susan Carnell, reports B92.
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