Study Finds One Eating Habit to Avoid to Lower Your Stroke Risk

Results of a new study, published Thursday in the journal Nature Communications, indicate that eating late in the evening, or after 9 pm, is linked to a significant increase in your risk of stroke. Researchers at the University of Sorbonne Paris Nord surveyed more than 103,389 people in France who completed 15 meal schedule diaries over an average of seven years.

Scientists identified 2,000 cases of cardiovascular disease amongst participants, finding that those who regularly ate dinner after 9 pm were 28 percent more likely to suffer a stroke or mini-stroke compared to those who ate before 8 pm. Those who ate after 9 pm did not have a higher risk of coronary heart issues, like heart attacks and angina.

However, with each hour they waited to have dinner, participants’ risk of stroke or mini-stroke increased by eight percent. For every hour later they had breakfast, men’s risk of cardiovascular disease increased by 11 percent. For women, it increased by only six percent.

“My grandmother used to warn me not to have dinner too late, and this study suggests there may be some sense in that advice,” the study’s lead author, Bernard Srour, told The Daily Mail. “Now [that] we are a 24/7 society, where people feel they never have enough time, many of us often eat later at night,” he explained.

“But people who eat dinner late because they think they are too busy to do so earlier may increase their risk of health problems,” Srour warned.

The study also showed that a period of overnight fasting can be beneficial to one’s health, a result found in previous research. Each extra hour of overnight fasting was connected to a seven percent reduced risk of stroke or mini-stroke. Notably, this result seemed to be fueled by those who ate dinner early and had breakfast at a normal time, rather than those who ate dinner later and then had a late breakfast.