Eating late at night is putting millions of people in danger of heart attacks and strokes, experts warn.
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A late-night meal keeps the body on ‘high alert’ when it should be winding down, researchers found.
Heart experts last night advised that adults should never eat within two hours of bedtime – and ideally nothing after 7pm.
In a healthy person, blood pressure drops by at least 10 per cent when they go to sleep.
Experts think this is because eating releases a rush of stress hormones when the body should be starting to relax.
Researcher Dr Ebru Özpelit, presenting her results at the speaking at the European Society of Cardiology congress in Rome, said: ‘If we eat late at night, the body essentially remains on high alert as during the day, rather than relaxing for sleep.
Dr Özpelit, from Dokuz Eylül University in Turkey, tracked 721 on people diagnosed with high blood pressure, with an average age of 53.
She found that those who ate within two hours of going to bed were 2.8 times more likely to retain high blood pressure overnight.
She advised that people do not skip breakfast, eat lunch, and keep dinner to a small meal.
‘Eating breakfast and lunch is important but dinner must not be later than seven o’clock in the evening,’
