DONT EAT AFTER 8PM!

From all the comments it seems like this is an epidemiological study, ie. one that surveys a population and tries to come up with conclusions based on that. The problem with these is all they can do is show correlation, nothing more. I remember when I was in university taking a philosophy of logic course. The prof pointed out that an epidemiological study showed that something like 95% of the people who develop lung cancer drink coffee (number is not accurate but is it high like that). He then asked us what that meant. Sure enough someone guessed that it meant coffee cause lung cancer. That lead to a wonderful lecture about the difference between causality and correlation. This did not show causality, just correlation because what was happening is that most smokers also drink coffee. That is all that is shown by that study.

While these sort of studies have their place, they are very weak for making conclusions like, "eating after 8PM will make you fat." Interestingly this is not seen in populations in many European countries where late night eating is a normal thing. Add to that the fact that clinical studies, ie ones where you take a group of volunteers and feed them a certain way and see what happens, don't usually show the same thing. For that matter unless this study controlled for eating more calories than one needs in a day, it is essentially useless because if you stop eating at 8PM but still eat more calories than your body burns you will gain weight too.

Here is an interesting article that brings some of these studies together in a very informative manner. http://www.leangains.com/2011/06/is-late-night-eating-better-for-fat.html

i'll have to read the study, but some arbitrary cutoff time where eating somehow becomes bad is ridiculous

Totally agree...

Damn it, it's 8:01pm... I guess I'll just let my stomach growl for the next three hours. :grumble:

Sure, the study makes sense, but it doesn't take into consideration a lot of factors. Psychology studies are very difficult to execute and even harder to prove. IMO many people who eat late at night eat because they are bored, not because they are hungry... obviously people with eating habits like that are going to be heavier. What about shift workers who work strange hours? I often eat after 8pm because by the time I get home from work, go to the gym and make dinner, it's later. But I'm HUNGRY so why wouldn't I eat?

Remember:
The Primary Laws of Nutrient Timing
The First Law of Nutrient Timing is: hitting your daily macronutrient targets is FAR more important than nutrient timing.

The Second Law of Nutrient Timing is: hitting your daily macronutrient targets is FAR more important than nutrient timing.

Chris, let me make sure i understand what you're saying. "hitting your macro goals are most important" i.e. feed your body with what it needs don't be eating crap?

....... oh i see looks like a double post.. that's not right, I am ready to fight you, when i win you'll bake me a low carb cheese cake.

Remember:
The Primary Laws of Nutrient Timing
The First Law of Nutrient Timing is: hitting your daily macronutrient targets is FAR more important than nutrient timing.

The Second Law of Nutrient Timing is: hitting your daily macronutrient targets is FAR more important than nutrient timing.

Chris, let me make sure i understand what you're saying. "hitting your macro goals are most important" i.e. feed your body with what it needs don't be eating crap?

....... oh i see looks like a double post.. that's not right, I am ready to fight you, when i win you'll bake me a low carb cheese cake.

LOL

Saying that because of the amount of time the body takes to digest food that it is more important to meet the macronutrient goals (whatever they be for your target loss, maintenance or gain) than to worry about if you should eat your last meal at 7:59 or 8:01pm

I don't know about the "science" of eating later than 8pm...or few hours before your bedtime......but I do know, I feel much better in the morning if I have not eaten anything heavy after 7pm or so. I also feel better if I have my heaviest meal earlier in the afternoon and light dinner.

I sometimes work the graveyard shift and then sleep when I get home from work in the day. I have to eat some time. And After 8PM is a must at times.

It's 10:20.... and I'm eating! Your not the boss of me!! Lol!!

Arg. This is a frustrating read.

There is not enough information in the article to make any comments.

If this was a scientific study, you can be pretty sure that the scientists understand that causation does not equal correlation. These people are quite well versed in biostatistics, and they understand how to control for variable and how to detect which variable are statistically significant and which are not. There are software packages that make it pretty easy to do this.

It should be pretty obvious to a scientist that if a fat person consumes more calories than a thin person it probably doesn't matter what time of day they eat those calories. So if you are eating more icecream after 8pm in addition to all the crap you eat all day long, it doesn't take a scientist to know that obviously you will be gaining weight.

It seems its hip to be anti-science these days, but scientists really do understand about things like correlation, causation, and statistical relevance.

The key point is they "should" know the difference, yet in spite of the fact this (and many others) is an epidemiological study, ie. a study that by its very nature cannot show causality, I see scientists, yes scientists who should and likely do know better, making conclusions about causality at least in the information bites that a quoted extensively by the MSM and many people. At best this study could be said to say that we need to do clinical studies with appropriate controls to see if there is any causal effect of eating late because that is all they can conclude. Yet, the number of times I see conclusions made that this epidemiological study means x causes y makes me think either their are a lot of scientists who don't know this, that they do this to keep getting funding, or more likely, they are very bad at press releases and public comments and are saying things in a way that is either misunderstood or incorrect because of it. Either way, as much as I respect scientists, some of my best friends are scientists, one has to realize they have their weaknesses.