Visceral fat and eating before bed

June 11, 2015 11:01 AM

Does eating a late night meal immediately before bed affect how your body utilizes visceral fat during sleep?

I watched this documentary called Weight of the Nation last night (part 1), and they explained that visceral fat is a readily-mobilized source of energy and fuels our brains when we're sleeping. I've seen some studies that show that visceral fat mass increases with lack of sleep (but also with higher than average amounts of sleep).

If a person eats a meal right before bed, will that affect our body's inclination to use visceral fat as an energy source during sleep? Would our body favor the calories a person had just consumed over the fat stores in the belly? Just wondering if there are any studies on this, and if eating shortly before bed has any implications on weight gain, particularly in the belly region.

Thanks!

posted by extramundane to Health & Fitness (1 answer total)

The only thing I've heard about this is that 1. fat burning appears to be higher after consuming high-protein meals (mainly in already-overweight people) and 2. eating high-protein food right before bed may help boost your metabolism over night.

If you search for eating high protein meals before bed you'll find... too many articles on the phenomenon, most of which are very poorly cited.

This livestrong article at least cites a few of its sources for its assertions, and may lead to better (re)searching if you chase those down.

Good luck!
posted by Lafe at 10:00 AM on June 12, 2015