Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Cardiorenal Metabolic Consequences of Nighttime Snacking: Is it an Innocent Eating Behavior?

  • Cardiovascular Disease (JHY Wu, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Nutrition Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose of Review

Health consequences of nighttime eating, as a publicly discussed eating behavior type, have been speculated lately. Nighttime eating has been linked to various metabolic outcomes including hyperlipidemia, hypertriglyceridemia, hyperglycemia, weight gain, elevated blood pressure, obesity, and metabolic syndrome, and cardiorenal outcomes such as atherosclerosis, a decline in eGFR, and proteinuria.

Recent Findings

Although the exact underlying pathophysiological mechanism is not yet clear, multiple hypotheses including disrupted circadian rhythm, altered hormonal levels, and decline in cellular regeneration have been proposed.

Summary

In this review, we aim to evaluate the growing literature on nighttime eating behavior in terms of metabolic and cardiorenal outcomes, pathophysiological basis, and potential therapeutic alternatives.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Engin A. The definition and prevalence of obesity and metabolic syndrome. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2017;960:1–17.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Saklayen MG. The global epidemic of the metabolic syndrome. Curr Hypertens Rep. 2018;20:12.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Ranasinghe P, Mathangasinghe Y, Jayawardena R, Hills A, Misra A. Prevalence and trends of metabolic syndrome among adults in the Asia-Pacific region: a systematic review. BMC Public Health. 2017;17:1–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. do Vale Moreira NC, Hussain A, Bhowmik B, et al. Prevalence of metabolic syndrome by different definitions, and its association with type 2 diabetes, pre-diabetes, and cardiovascular disease risk in Brazil. Diabetes Metab Syndrome: Clin Res Rev. 2020;14:1217–24.

  5. Hruby A, Manson JE, Qi L, et al. Determinants and consequences of obesity. Am J Public Health. 2016;106:1656–62.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. O’Reardon JP, Peshek A, Allison KC. Night eating syndrome. CNS Drugs. 2005;19:997–1008.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Stunkard AJ, Grace WJ, Wolff HG. The night-eating syndrome; a pattern of food intake among certain obese patients. Am J Med. 1955;19:78–86.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. O’Reardon JP, Ringel BL, Dinges DF, et al. Circadian eating and sleeping patterns in the night eating syndrome. Obes Res. 2004;12:1789–96.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Rand CS, Macgregor AM, Stunkard AJ. The night eating syndrome in the general population and among postoperative obesity surgery patients. Int J Eat Disord. 1997;22:65–9.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Cerú-Björk C, Andersson I, Rössner S. Night eating and nocturnal eating-two different or similar syndromes among obese patients? Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 2001;25:365–72.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Lundgren JD, Rempfer MV, Brown CE, Goetz J, Hamera E. The prevalence of night eating syndrome and binge eating disorder among overweight and obese individuals with serious mental illness. Psychiatry Res. 2010;175:233–6.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  12. O’Reardon JP, Peshek A, Allison KC. Night eating syndrome: Diagnosis, epidemiology and management. CNS Drugs. 2005;19:997–1008.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Vander Wal JS. Night eating syndrome: a critical review of the literature. Clin Psychol Rev. 2012;32:49–59.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Depner CM, Stothard ER, Wright KP Jr. Metabolic consequences of sleep and circadian disorders. Curr Diab Rep. 2014;14:507.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  15. Yahia N, Brown C, Potter S, et al. Night eating syndrome and its association with weight status, physical activity, eating habits, smoking status, and sleep patterns among college students. Eat Weight Disord. 2017;22:421–33.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Gluck ME, Venti CA, Salbe AD, Krakoff J. Nighttime eating: commonly observed and related to weight gain in an inpatient food intake study. Am J Clin Nutr. 2008;88:900–5.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Almoosawi S, Prynne CJ, Hardy R, Stephen AM. Time-of-day of energy intake: Association with hypertension and blood pressure 10 years later in the 1946 British Birth Cohort. J Hypertens. 2013;31:882–92.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Wang J, Patterson R, Ang A, Emond J, Shetty N, Arab L. Timing of energy intake during the day is associated with the risk of obesity in adults. J Hum Nutr Diet. 2014;27:255–62.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Okada C, Imano H, Muraki I, Yamada K, Iso H. The association of having a late dinner or bedtime snack and skipping breakfast with overweight in Japanese women. J Obesity. 2019;2019.

  20. Bo S, Fadda M, Castiglione A, et al. Is the timing of caloric intake associated with variation in diet-induced thermogenesis and in the metabolic pattern? A randomized cross-over study. Int J Obes. 2015;39:1689–95.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Qin L-Q, Li J, Wang Y, Wang J, Xu J-Y, Kaneko T. The effects of nocturnal life on endocrine circadian patterns in healthy adults. Life Sci. 2003;73:2467–75.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Hastings MH, Maywood ES, Brancaccio M. Generation of circadian rhythms in the suprachiasmatic nucleus. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2018;19:453–69.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Xie Y, Tang Q, Chen G, et al. New insights into the circadian rhythm and its related diseases. Front Physiol. 2019;10:682.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  24. Hirota T, Kon N, Itagaki T, Hoshina N, Okano T, Fukada Y. Transcriptional repressor TIEG1 regulates Bmal1 gene through GC box and controls circadian clockwork. Genes Cells. 2010;15:111–21.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Rutter J, Reick M, Wu LC, McKnight SL. Regulation of clock and NPAS2 DNA binding by the redox state of NAD cofactors. Science. 2001;293:510–4.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Schibler U, Naef F. Cellular oscillators: Rhythmic gene expression and metabolism. Curr Opin Cell Biol. 2005;17:223–9.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Guan X-M, Hess JF, Yu H, Hey PJ, van der Ploeg LH. Differential expression of mRNA for leptin receptor isoforms in the rat brain. Mol Cell Endocrinol. 1997;133:1–7.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Akiyama M, Yuasa T, Hayasaka N, Horikawa K, Sakurai T, Shibata S. Reduced food anticipatory activity in genetically orexin (hypocretin) neuron-ablated mice. Eur J Neurosci. 2004;20:3054–62.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Arble DM, Bass J, Laposky AD, Vitaterna MH, Turek FW. Circadian timing of food intake contributes to weight gain. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2009;17:2100–2.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Fonken LK, Workman JL, Walton JC, et al. Light at night increases body mass by shifting the time of food intake. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2010;107:18664–9.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  31. Hatori M, Vollmers C, Zarrinpar A, et al. Time-restricted feeding without reducing caloric intake prevents metabolic diseases in mice fed a high-fat diet. Cell Metab. 2012;15:848–60.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  32. Baron KG, Reid KJ, Kern AS, Zee PC. Role of sleep timing in caloric intake and BMI. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2011;19:1374–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Baron KG, Reid KJ, Horn LV, Zee PC. Contribution of evening macronutrient intake to total caloric intake and body mass index. Appetite. 2013;60:246–51.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Allison KC, Ahima RS, O’Reardon JP, et al. Neuroendocrine profiles associated with energy intake, sleep, and stress in the night eating syndrome. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2005;90:6214–7.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Goel N, Stunkard AJ, Rogers NL, et al. Circadian rhythm profiles in women with night eating syndrome. J Biol Rhythms. 2009;24:85–94.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  36. Birketvedt GS, Florholmen J, Sundsfjord J, et al. Behavioral and neuroendocrine characteristics of the night-eating syndrome. JAMA. 1999;282:657–63.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  37. Birketvedt GS, Sundsfjord J, Florholmen JR. Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in the night eating syndrome. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2002;282:E366–9.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. Leal A, Moreira A. Food and the circadian activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Braz J Med Biol Res. 1997;30:1391–405.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  39. Heiman ML, Ahima RS, Craft LS, Schoner B, Stephens TW, Flier JS. Leptin inhibition of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in response to stress. Endocrinology. 1997;138:3859–63.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  40. Kellner M, Yassouridis A, Manz B, Steiger A, Holsboer F, Wiedemann K. Corticotropin-releasing hormone inhibits melatonin secretion in healthy volunteers–a potential link to low-melatonin syndrome in depression? Neuroendocrinology. 1997;65:284–90.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  41. Matkovic V, Ilich J, Badenhop N, et al. Gain in body fat is inversely related to the nocturnal rise in serum leptin level in young females. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1997;82:1368–72.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  42. Brown GM. Light, melatonin and the sleep-wake cycle. J Psychiatry Neurosci. 1994;19:345–53.

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  43. Simone S, Gorin Y, Velagapudi C, Abboud HE, Habib SL. Mechanism of oxidative DNA damage in diabetes: Tuberin inactivation and down regulation of DNA repair enzyme 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2′-deoxyguanosine-DNA glycosylase. Diabetes. 2008;57:2626–36.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  44. Zhong A, Chang M, Yu T, et al. Aberrant DNA damage response and DNA repair pathway in high glucose conditions. J Can Res Updates. 2018;7:64–74.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  45. Lorenzi M, Montisano DF, Toledo S, Barrieux A. High glucose induces DNA damage in cultured human endothelial cells. J Clin Invest. 1986;77:322–5.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  46. Zhang Y, Zhou J, Wang T, Cai L. High level glucose increases mutagenesis in human lymphoblastoid cells. Int J Biol Sci. 2007;3:375–9.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  47. Hruda J, Sramek V, Leverve X. High glucose increases susceptibility to oxidative-stress-induced apoptosis and DNA damage in K-562 cells. Biomed Pap Med Fac Univ Palacky Olomouc Czech Repub. 2010;154:315–20.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  48. Kutsuma A, Nakajima K, Suwa K. Potential association between breakfast skipping and concomitant late-night-dinner eating with metabolic syndrome and proteinuria in the Japanese population. Scientifica (Cairo). 2014;2014:253581.

  49. Andersen GS, Stunkard AJ, Sørensen TI, Petersen L, Heitmann BL. Night eating and weight change in middle-aged men and women. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 2004;28:1338–43.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  50. Balieiro LC, Rossato LT, Waterhouse J, Paim SL, Mota MC, Crispim CA. Nutritional status and eating habits of bus drivers during the day and night. Chronobiol Int. 2014;31:1123–9.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  51. Huang CJ, Hu HT, Fan YC, Liao YM, Tsai PS. Associations of breakfast skipping with obesity and health-related quality of life: Evidence from a national survey in Taiwan. Int J Obes (Lond). 2010;34:720–5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  52. Deshmukh-Taskar P, Nicklas TA, Radcliffe JD, O’Neil CE, Liu Y. The relationship of breakfast skipping and type of breakfast consumed with overweight/obesity, abdominal obesity, other cardiometabolic risk factors and the metabolic syndrome in young adults. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES): 1999–2006. Pub Health Nutr. 2013;16:2073–82.

  53. Otaki N, Obayashi K, Saeki K, Kitagawa M, Tone N, Kurumatani N. Relationship between breakfast skipping and obesity among elderly: Cross-sectional analysis of the HEIJO-KYO study. J Nutr Health Aging. 2017;21:501–4.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  54. Ma Y, Bertone ER, Stanek EJ 3rd, et al. Association between eating patterns and obesity in a free-living US adult population. Am J Epidemiol. 2003;158:85–92.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  55. van der Heijden AA, Hu FB, Rimm EB, van Dam RM. A prospective study of breakfast consumption and weight gain among U.S. men. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2007;15:2463–9.

  56. Odegaard AO, Jacobs DR Jr, Steffen LM, Van Horn L, Ludwig DS, Pereira MA. Breakfast frequency and development of metabolic risk. Diabetes Care. 2013;36:3100–6.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  57. Sakurai M, Yoshita K, Nakamura K, et al. Skipping breakfast and 5-year changes in body mass index and waist circumference in Japanese men and women. Obes Sci Pract. 2017;3:162–70.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  58. Nakajima K, Suwa K. Association of hyperglycemia in a general Japanese population with late-night-dinner eating alone, but not breakfast skipping alone. J Diabetes Metab Disord. 2015;14:16.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  59. Sato M, Nakamura K, Ogata H, et al. Acute effect of late evening meal on diurnal variation of blood glucose and energy metabolism. Obes Res Clin Pract. 2011;5:e169-266.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  60. Yoshida J, Eguchi E, Nagaoka K, Ito T, Ogino K. Association of night eating habits with metabolic syndrome and its components: a longitudinal study. BMC Public Health. 2018;18:1–12.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  61. Hibi M, Masumoto A, Naito Y, et al. Nighttime snacking reduces whole body fat oxidation and increases LDL cholesterol in healthy young women. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 2013;304:R94-r101.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  62. Zhang X, Wu Y, Na M et al. Habitual night eating was positively associated with progress of arterial stiffness in Chinese adults. J Am Heart Assoc. 2020;9:e016455.

  63. Ribeiro DC, Hampton SM, Morgan L, Deacon S, Arendt J. Altered postprandial hormone and metabolic responses in a simulated shift work environment. J Endocrinol. 1998;158:305–10.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  64. Lund J, Arendt J, Hampton SM, English J, Morgan LM. Postprandial hormone and metabolic responses amongst shift workers in Antarctica. J Endocrinol. 2001;171:557–64.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  65. Cao H. Adipocytokines in obesity and metabolic disease. J Endocrinol. 2014;220:T47-59.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  66. Chen H-J, Wang Y, Cheskin LJ. Relationship between frequency of eating and cardiovascular disease mortality in U.S. adults: the NHANES III follow-up study. Ann Epidemiol. 2016;26:527–33.

  67. Kim S, Park GH, Yang JH, Chun SH, Yoon HJ, Park MS. Eating frequency is inversely associated with blood pressure and hypertension in Korean adults: Analysis of the Third Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2014;68:481–9.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  68. Maugeri A, Vinciguerra M. The effects of meal timing and frequency, caloric restriction, and fasting on cardiovascular health: an overview. J Lipid Atherosclerosis. 2020;9:140–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  69. Striegel-Moore RH, Franko DL, Thompson D, Affenito S, Kraemer HC. Night eating: Prevalence and demographic correlates. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2006;14:139–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  70. Cahill LE, Chiuve SE, Mekary RA, et al. Prospective study of breakfast eating and incident coronary heart disease in a cohort of male US health professionals. Circulation. 2013;128:337–43.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  71. Maugeri A, Kunzova S, Medina-Inojosa JR, et al. Association between eating time interval and frequency with ideal cardiovascular health: Results from a random sample Czech urban population. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2018;28:847–55.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  72. Aljuraiban GS, Chan Q, Oude Griep LM, et al. The impact of eating frequency and time of intake on nutrient quality and body mass index: the INTERMAP study, a population-based study. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2015;115:528-36.e1.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  73. Roen PB. The evening meal and atherosclerosis. J Am Geriatr Soc. 1978;26:284–5.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  74. Shen W-W, Chen H-M, Chen H, Xu F, Li L-S, Liu Z-H. Obesity-related glomerulopathy: Body mass index and proteinuria. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol. 2010;5:1401–9.

  75. Michishita R, Matsuda T, Kawakami S, et al. The association between changes in lifestyle behaviors and the incidence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in middle-aged and older men. J Epidemiol. 2017;27:389–97.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, Division of Nephrology, Koc University School of Medicine, 34010, Istanbul, Turkey

    Mehmet Kanbay

  2. Department of Medicine, Koc University School of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey

    Sidar Copur & Atalay Demiray

  3. Division of Nephrology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Kathherine R. Tuttler

  4. Providence Medical Research Center, Providence Health Care, Spokane, WA, USA

    Kathherine R. Tuttler

Authors
  1. Mehmet Kanbay
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Sidar Copur
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Atalay Demiray
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Kathherine R. Tuttler
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

Contributed substantially to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work: Sidar Copur, Atalay Demiray, Mehmet Kanbay. Drafted the work or revised it critically for important intellectual content: Sidar Copur, Mehmet Kanbay, Kathherine R. Tuttle.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mehmet Kanbay.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

Authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This article is part of the Topical Collection on Cardiovascular Disease

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kanbay, M., Copur, S., Demiray, A. et al. Cardiorenal Metabolic Consequences of Nighttime Snacking: Is it an Innocent Eating Behavior?. Curr Nutr Rep 11, 347–353 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13668-022-00403-6

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13668-022-00403-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation