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Eat breakfast early, and all your meals in a 10-hour window, to burn more calories and feel less hungry, researchers say

  • New research suggests that eating later in the day can promote obesity – you may burn calories at a slower rate and experience body changes promoting fat growth
  • Instead, eat breakfast early and, says another study, eat all your meals in a 10-hour window, to feel less hungry. Making breakfast your biggest meal helps too

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Having breakfast early in the day can help you feel fuller throughout the day, a study shows. Another study reports the same effect if you eat all your meals in a 10-hour window. Photo: Shutterstock

Researchers have provided more evidence that eating earlier in the day might be good for you – and eating all of your meals within a 10-hour window could be healthier, too.

The takeaway from this latest wave of research on eating is to eat breakfast and try to confine your meals closer to a 10-hour window.

Why eat earlier? Participants who ate meals four hours later in the day were more hungry, burned calories at a slower rate and had body changes that promoted fat growth, according to a study from researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts in the United States.

The research was published this week in the journal Cell Metabolism.

Nina Vujovic is a researcher in the division of sleep and circadian disorders at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts in the United States. Photo: Nina Vujovic
Nina Vujovic is a researcher in the division of sleep and circadian disorders at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts in the United States. Photo: Nina Vujovic

“In this study, we asked, ‘Does the time that we eat matter when everything else is kept consistent?’,” first author Nina Vujovic, a researcher in the hospital’s division of sleep and circadian disorders, wrote on the hospital’s website.

“And we found that eating four hours later makes a significant difference for our hunger levels, the way we burn calories after we eat, and the way we store fat.”

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