Does the time of day you eat determine if you will gain weight?

It's simple math right? 

If two people consume the same exact food, but one consumes a portion of their food late at night, the food will have the same impact on their bodies weight-wise... right?

Not according to a study done by the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in California.

The study involved two groups of mice.

One group was allowed only to eat within an eight hour period.  The second group were free to eat any time they wanted day or night.

The mice that ate at set times during the day did not become obese.  The second group of mice however was found to have 70 percent more fatty deposits.

The study's lead author Dr. Satchidananda Panda explains this by pointing out that at certain times of the day the liver, intestines and muscles are at peak efficiency.  Other times they are sleeping.  Panda says that every organ has a clock and their metabolic cycles are critical.

"When mice or people eat throughout the day and night, it can throw off those normal metabolic cycles," he adds.

In the journal Cell Metabolism, Panda's research team suggests that restricting meal time could help lower obesity rates.

Tam Fry of the National Obesity Forum agrees...

"There's a pattern, which you should build up from childhood.  Three set meals a day.  Anything you do to upset that opens you up to problem with hormones that control your appetite."

Quote:

" My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four. Unless there are three other people." 
- Orson Welles