As well as contributing to weight gain, a new study has suggested that snacking late at night could increase your risk of diabetes¹ and heart disease.

一项新研究显示，吃宵夜不但会让体重增加，还会增加患糖尿病和心脏病的风险。

Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that eating late at night raises glucose² and insulin levels, both of which are causes of type 2 diabetes.

宾夕法尼亚大学佩尔曼医学院的研究人员发现，深夜进食会使血糖和胰岛素水平升高，这两者都是导致2型糖尿病的原因。

They also found evidence that poor timing³ of meals can also affect cholesterol⁴ levels which can increase the risk of heart disease or suffering a heart attack.

他们还发现，不健康的进餐时间还会影响胆固醇水平，从而增加患心脏病的风险。

The researchers asked nine adults of a healthy weight to eat three meals and two snacks between 8am and 7pm for eight weeks and then asked the same but between noon and 11pm for another eight weeks. To control for sleep, the researchers asked participants to sleep between 11pm to 9am for both of the eight weeks.

研究人员让9名体重正常的成年人在8点至19点之间摄入3顿正餐和两顿零食，持续8周，然后让他们在12点至23点间同样用餐，再持续8周。为了控制睡眠因素，研究人员要求测试者两次都在23点至9点之间休息。

They found that when participants ate later at night not only did their weight increase, but so did their levels of insulin, glucose and cholesterol.

他们发现，当测试者吃饭时间较晚时，他们不仅会体重增加，而且胰岛素、血糖以及胆固醇的水平也会上升。

They also found that during the first eight weeks of daytime eating, participants produced a hormone⁵ which stimulates⁶ the appetite to help them feel fuller for longer.

研究人员还发现，在前8周白天进食时，测试者体内产生了刺激食欲以促进更长时间饱腹感的激素。

Namni Goel, lead author of the study, said: "Eating later can promote a negative profile of weight, energy and hormone markers - such as higher glucose and insulin, which are implicated⁷ in diabetes, and cholesterol and triglycerides, which are linked with cardiovascular problems and other health conditions."

该研究的领头人纳米?高尔称：“进食晚会对体重、能量以及激素等指标产生负面影响，比如血糖和胰岛素升高，这可能意味着糖尿病，再比如胆固醇和甘油三酯升高，可能和心血管疾病以及其他健康问题有关。”

This isn't the first time a study has suggested that late night snacking could be detrimental⁸ to your health. Here we round up five reasons why you should avoid eating late at night ...

这不是科学研究第一次告诉我们吃宵夜有害健康。我们总结了应该避免深夜进食的五大原因：

1. It can affect your memory: According to American researchers, snacking late at night could negatively affect your memory. The study, from the University of California, found that eating at irregular hours - such as late at night - had the potential to impact cognitive⁹ functions.

深夜进食会影响记忆：美国研究人员称，深夜吃零食可能对你的记忆产生负面影响。加利福尼亚大学的研究发现，在不正常的时间，比如深夜进食可能会对认知功能产生影响。

Over a period of two weeks, researchers fed one group of mice - nocturnal animals - during the day while the other group were fed at night like usual.

在两周的时间里，研究人员给一组小白鼠（夜行动物）白天喂食，而给另一组如常在夜间喂食。

They then tested the ability of the mice to distinguish new objects in their cage. The mice with the disrupted eating habits showed a lesser¹⁰ ability to recognise new objects than the mice who continued to eat as usual. In addition, they also found that the ability to create long-term memories was damaged in the mice who were being fed during the day.

随后，测试它们对笼子内新物体的识别能力。饮食习惯紊乱的小白鼠比饮食正常的小白鼠识别新物体的能力更差。此外，研究人员还发现，小白鼠白天进食后长期记忆能力受到了损害。

2. It makes you have weird¹¹ dreams: In 2015, a pair of Canadian psychologists investigated whether people's eating habits can have a negative effect on sleep patterns and dreaming.

深夜进食让人做奇怪的梦：2015年，两位加拿大心理学家对饮食习惯是否会对人类的睡眠模式和梦境产生负面影响进行了调查。

Tore Nielsen and Russell Powell asked almost 400 university students to fill in a questionnaire about the diet, sleep, and dream experiences and found that 18 percent believed food has the ability to "render their dreams more bizarre or disturbing."

托尔?尼尔森以及罗素?鲍威尔让近400名大学生填写了关于饮食、睡眠和做梦经历的调查问卷，结果发现18%的人认为，饮食能让“他们的梦境变得更怪异不安”。

Alongside eating too much of certain kinds of foods (dairy products and spicy¹² meals), Nielsen and Powell found that eating late at night was also to blame for the confusing dreams. They said this could be because late night snacking can often lead to gastrointestinal discomfort¹³ which in turn can cause difficulty sleeping.

除了摄入过多特定种类的食物外（奶制品和辛辣食物），尼尔森和鲍威尔还发现，深夜进食也是导致梦境混乱的原因之一。他们称，这可能是因为深夜进食通常会导致肠胃不适，从而引发睡眠问题。

3. It increases the risk of a heart attack: Experts have found that eating dinner after 7pm could increase the risk of suffering a heart attack. Researchers from Dokuz Eylül University assessed more than 700 adults with high blood pressure in order to find out whether different eating times made a difference to their health.

深夜进食增加患心脏病的风险：专家发现，19点后进食可能会增加患心脏病的风险，Dokuz Eylül大学的研究人员对700多名患有高血压的成年人进行了评估，以研究进食时间差异是否会对他们的健康产生影响。

They found that eating dinner late at night had the most significant impact on overnight blood pressure while eating with two hours of going to sleep did more damage than indulging in a high salt content diet.

他们发现，深夜进食对夜间血压的影响最大，而睡前两小时进食比高盐饮食的危害更大。

4. It creates acid reflux: According to experts, eating late at night (especially heavy foods) and going to sleep shortly after is a key contributor to acid reflux.

深夜进食引起胃酸倒流：据专家介绍，深夜进食（尤其是重口味食物）然后很快入睡是引起胃酸倒流的重要原因。

Because your stomach takes a few hours to empty after a meal, physician Jamie Koufman says when you go to sleep it allows for the acid to spill out of your still full stomach and leak into your esophagus, leading to acid reflux.

因为胃部在进餐后需要数小时才能消化干净，医生杰米?考夫曼称，睡觉时胃酸会从满胀的胃部溢出，流进食道，导致胃酸倒流。

5. It makes you hungrier the next day: Eating late at night can have you feeling hungrier than usual when you wake up the next morning thanks to the insulin your pancreas releases after a meal.

深夜进食会让你第二天更饿：深夜进食会让你在第二天早上醒来时，比平时更加饥饿，因为进餐后身体会分泌胰岛素。

This in turn produces more glucose which triggers a hormone called 'ghrelin', responsible for triggering hunger.

身体会因此产生更多葡萄糖，从而刺激分泌一种叫做“饥饿素”的激素，这种激素会引发饥饿感。