Study Shows Eating Dinner After 8 pm Does not Cause Obesity in Children
The British Journal of Nutrition has printed a paper claiming there is no link between obesity in children and eating a meal after 8 pm. Kings College London researchers were able to study the recorded eating patterns of 768 4-10-year-olds and 852 11-18-year-olds using data from…
The British Journal of Nutrition has printed a paper claiming there is no link between obesity in children and eating a meal after 8 pm. Kings College London researchers were able to study the recorded eating patterns of 768 4-10-year-olds and 852 11-18-year-olds using data from 2008-2012 and known as the UKs National Diet and Nutrition Survey Rolling Programme. Parents kept a daily food record for four days and also recorded height and weight.
The data showed that it was as likely children would be obese if they ate between 2 pm and 8 pm or 8 pm and 10 pm and this was in both age groups. Dr. Gerde Pot based in Amsterdam’s Vrije Universiteit is the lead author said that the findings came as a surprise. There had been the expectation that the later in the evening a child ate, the more likely it would be that they were obese. There were concerns the figures may have been affected by the fact that few children ate late in the evening.
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A higher amount of protein was eaten by boys aged 4-10 who ate later on, and when it came to carbohydrates, it was girls aged 11-18, who ate later on in the evening who took in less.
It could be that the records are not entirely accurate, and issues such as not eating breakfast, little exercise and the amount of sleep were not taken into account. It is being suggested that there is not enough evidence to say what or when children should eat.
For further information, please contact Hannah Pluthero [email protected]
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Owen Castellanos
Owen Castellanos is the Hardware & Gaming Reporter at TrendinTech, where he tests graphics cards, processors, consoles and peripherals and follows the games industry, from the major publishers to independent studios. He previously wrote reviews and benchmarks for Tom's Hardware and contributed features to PC Gamer, covering everything from laptop testing to the economics of game development. Owen holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and attends CES in Las Vegas, Computex in Taipei and the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco each year to meet chipmakers and developers. He writes for readers who want to know whether a product is worth the money, and he is not shy about saying when it is not.
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