circadian disruption, brought about by a culture of late-night eating, drinking, and inconsistent sleep patterns.
For decades, we’ve been told that weight gain, together with associated diseases such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease, are a simple matter of the quantity and type of food we consume, balanced with the number of calories we expend through exercise. But mounting evidence suggests that timing is also important: it’s not just what you eat, but when you eat that matters.
The idea that our response to food varies at different times of day dates back a long way. Ancient Chinese medics believed that energy flowed around the body in parallel with the sun’s movements, and that our meals should be timed accordingly: 7-9am was the time of the stomach, when the biggest meal of the day should be consumed; 9-11am centred on the pancreas and spleen; 11am-1pm was the time of the heart, and so on. Dinner, they believed, should be a light affair, consumed between 5pm and 7pm, which was when kidney function predominated.