Nutritionist Tim Spector issues message to everyone eats snacks

Zoe's Tim Spector and Dr Sarah Berry said that timing is everything
Bolstering your health could be as simple as ditching those late-night bites, according to nutrition expert, Tim Spector. Chatting with fellow expert Dr Sarah Berry on the Better Brain podcast, the duo highlighted the critical role that meal timing plays in our well-being, particularly warning against the detrimental habit of late-night snacking – a no-go for weight loss efforts and metabolic health.
As an authority in nutrition and one of the most cited scientists worldwide, Tim Spector has an impressive Instagram following of over 702K and has delved into the science of dietary timing during his conversation with Dr Berry. They explored the adverse effects of eating post 9pm, cautioning how it can wreak havoc on cholesterol levels and overall metabolic health.
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Dr Berry revealed: "If you are eating later, typically after about eight or nine o'clock at night, you tend to wake up the next day more hungry, which is really counter-intuitive. And it's associated with poorer metabolic health, so higher cholesterol, higher waist circumference, and poorer insulin."
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The renowned Mr Spector was clear when he chimed in, reinforcing the harm caused by nocturnal nibbling: "Late night snacking is the worst thing you can do in terms of timing."
The way our bodies process food changes with our circadian rhythm, which is a 24-hour cycle that regulates biological processes such as sleep, temperature and hormonal activity, reports the Daily Record.
And timing is everything when it comes to digestion and metabolism. Our insulin sensitivity takes a dive and digestive processes slow to a crawl as the evening unfolds, meaning our bodies meet a greater challenge in breaking down nosh and keeping tabs on blood glucose and fat come nightfall.
Dr Berry has highlighted the potential pitfalls of late-night snacking, warning that munching after 9pm could throw off our body's natural rhythm, potentially leading to poor metabolic health, increased cholesterol levels, and an expanding waistline.
Intermittent fasting is a popular method for those looking to manage their eating schedule to boost metabolic health and shed some pounds. The diet, which gained traction thanks to the late Dr Michael Mosley, involves consuming food within a specific timeframe each day and fasting for the remainder.
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Some adherents restrict their eating to an eight-hour window, such as from 11am to 7pm, allowing for meals like breakfast, lunch, and dinner within this period. Yet, there are those who push the boundaries of intermittent fasting, limiting their intake to just six hours a day – a practice that neither Spector nor Berry would advocate.
Berry said: "You don't need to go to these like, crazy regimes. You see people doing these regimes where they're eating within six hours. That might work for some people, but I want to go out in the evening."
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He pointed out that such restrictive diets can take a toll on our social lives, particularly when dining plans fall outside the designated 'eating window'.
The scientist added: "You never have a social life, you can never have a meal with friends and family."
Spector chimed in, suggesting that these extreme forms of intermittent fasting may not be maintainable in the long run. He emphasised: "There's the ultimate scientific time [of when you choose to eat], but what's really important is the time you can sustain this."
It's essential we pay attention to our eating schedules and avoid post-9pm snacks, but the key is finding a routine that fits with your way of life, social commitments and circadian rhythm.

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The Guardian

2 hours ago

• The Guardian

Why Dr Paris uses her bare arms in the fight against Australia's mosquito-borne diseases

Dr Véronique Paris has a very hands-on approach to her research. She slides her bare arm inside a special cage and lets hundreds of mosquitoes bite her – all in the name of science. 'For most of the ones I feed, I just feel a little sensation,' the University of Melbourne medical entomologist says. 'Some species do have a bit more of a mechanical feel to them.' Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email She describes the buzzing cage of mosquitoes as her 'colony', and 'to make sure they stay healthy' Paris feeds them her blood about once a week. 'If I am running an experiment or want to collect more eggs for upcoming work, this can increase to about four times a week.' Her research is focused on reducing the transmission of mosquito-borne diseases to humans, such as the flesh-eating Buruli ulcer – that if untreated can cause disfiguration and tissue loss. Paris enjoys sharing her work – and methods – with her community of 13,000 followers on Instagram. The 35-year-old says she moved to Instagram and away from professional social media platforms such as LinkedIn, or even Bluesky, to 'reach people that are not necessarily already looking for scientific content'. '[It] has been very rewarding and there are lots of people that ask lots of questions,' she says. Paris's interest in mosquito research began when she started her PhD at the University of Melbourne, after moving to Australia from Germany. 'I wanted to do something for the local community and understand local mosquitoes [and] locally transmitted diseases like Ross River virus and Buruli ulcer.' Cases of Buruli ulcer have risen sharply in recent years, from 135 in 2020 to 238 in late 2023, according to the Victorian Department of Health. The disease, which is spreading across Victoria, is also found in far north Queensland and the Northern Territory. While possums have long been suspected to play a role in the spread of Buruli ulcer, a 2024 study provided the first strong evidence linking mosquitoes to its transmission. Paris and other researchers are trying to find out how exactly mosquitoes acquire and transmit the pathogen to humans. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion Paris said she was shocked when she first saw her scientific colleagues feeding the insects their blood. 'I was planning big experiments and wanting to have my own mosquito colony, so I felt like I wanted to try it at least once to see if that is something that I can do.' Now it's a part of her weekly lab routine. 'My body has certainly adapted to it … I can feed a cage of mosquitoes and then it's itchy right after, and then I need to be good about not scratching, so I distract myself for about an hour.' Researchers feeding their own colonies is not compulsory, Paris says. 'There will always be volunteers around that can do that, so no one has to feed mosquitoes if they don't want to and that's totally fine.' But outside the lab, getting involuntarily bitten by mosquitoes is a completely different story. Paris says if a mosquito bites her on the ankle while she's in the garden, it might itch for days. Each bite is different, depending on the location on her body and the species of mosquito doing the biting, she says. There are about 300 species of mosquitoes in Australia, how much they itch depends on the person they bite, she explains, adding that the bump and itch is caused by someone's immune response to the bite, so it very person specific. Her top tip? Don't scratch the bite as it only makes the itching worse.

The Guardian

5 hours ago

• The Guardian

I was diagnosed with PCOS – and was soon drowning in misinformation

I suspected I had polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) long before it was confirmed. The signs were there: the acne scars that littered my back, the irregular periods, the hair in places on my body that I didn't see on many of my friends. I suspected it from the moment that one of my best friends, who as a girl taught me about bleaching my body hair and waxing my legs, was diagnosed with it as a teenager. Admitting all this publicly feels like an unburdening, but also an invitation to more shame. But I write this because my experience is far from unique. As many as one in 10 women have PCOS, a condition associated with hormonal disturbances that can range from weight gain, 'unwanted' body hair and hair loss, to irregular periods and struggles to conceive children (including an increased risk of miscarriage). It can leave women more likely to develop high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and heart disease. It is not clear what causes PCOS, but it is known to be passed down generational lines and can be influenced by lifestyle. I was finally diagnosed with PCOS last year, at 30, and have been on a journey to understand what that means ever since. The thing that leaped out at me early on (and has since been uncovered by the BBC) is just how much information, and misinformation, exists around the condition. My Instagram feed is filled with medically unqualified influencers. Sorting through all that to figure out which nutritionists and health professionals to pay attention to, in the absence of adequate support from the doctors and nurses who gave me that initial assessment and diagnosis, has been a battle. I've been encouraged to adopt unrealistic diets (so-called 'PCOS nutritionists' often suggest cutting out gluten, dairy and carbohydrates, despite a lack of evidence to show this is sustainable or useful for the condition); take unregulated supplements that can have significant side-effects; and sign up to expensive health plans and apps. I've been told to stop doing cardio and focus instead on weights and walking, because of the misguided idea that high-intensity exercise will cause my cortisol levels to rise to the degree that it will worsen my symptoms. In reality, all types of exercise can be beneficial. Medical misogyny has been well documented, and women's healthcare is rarely taken seriously. I first asked my GP about symptoms during the pandemic, when, after a blood test, I was told that my hormone levels were normal and I didn't have the condition. Later, having an ultrasound for an unrelated matter, I was unceremoniously told that I had lots of follicles on my ovaries and probably had PCOS. When I mentioned the earlier blood test, the sonographer told me that this is not a good way to diagnose the condition, especially if you are using hormonal birth control. Confusingly, PCOS does not cause cysts on the ovaries. 'They're not actual true cysts,' says Helena Teede, an Australian endocrinologist and expert in PCOS at Monash University in Melbourne. 'They're follicles or eggs that are just developing along a pathway, but they stop developing normally because they don't like the hormones that they're floating around in.' There has long been chatter about renaming PCOS to something that is more representative of the breadth of symptoms it causes. The current name, Teede says, 'completely misses the fact that this is a hormonal condition; that it has long-term impacts; that it is psychological, dermatological, metabolic, reproductive and, beyond fertility, it goes into many other reproductive features. And it really has an impact on quality of life.' She says it's likely that the process to give it a new name will be completed this year – her organisation has opened a survey for anyone who wants to contribute. Another myth is that women with the condition have a significant 'excess' of testosterone. And PCOS does open up some interesting questions about gender. But, says Teede, the idea that testosterone is an exclusively male hormone is false. Plus, women with PCOS do not typically have elevated levels of testosterone; it's more that our bodies are not very good at dealing with it. We have much less of the hormone than most men. After my diagnosis at the ultrasound, I had a follow-up call with a nurse practitioner, where I was told simply that I should put up with my symptoms but come back when I wanted to get pregnant; because, of course, that is the only thing that young women aspire to. When I pushed, I was offered a drug named metformin, which is used to treat insulin resistance and diabetes. It wasn't explained to me how this drug works and why it would be useful for my specific case. But, I have since learned, insulin resistance – when your body struggles to regulate your blood sugar levels – is one of the hallmark symptoms of PCOS and triggers a lot of the other issues that people with the condition face. Teede, however, points out that 'every woman has a different problem and a different life stage that's most important to them, and it's about their interpretation'. Doctors should think holistically about treatment plans for women with PCOS and listen to their concerns. My own contrasting experience, though, is much more common, says Rachel Morman, the chair of the UK PCOS charity Verity: 'After 20 years of doing this work, I'm like: 'Why is this still happening?'' She had a similar conversation with doctors after she was diagnosed in the early 00s, with the added shock of being told that she wouldn't be able to have children at all. While it is true that about 70% of women with PCOS experience fertility struggles, after intervention that number drops significantly; the vast majority of women with the condition are able to get pregnant. Morman has three children now. It's also important for women to know that a lot of the risks associated with PCOS in pregnancy (such as miscarriage, gestational diabetes and pre-eclampsia) are preventable. Before they start trying for a baby, women with the condition should have a full diabetes test and get their blood pressure checked, as well as aim for a healthy diet and active lifestyle. But when doctors tell us that PCOS is something we should be concerned about only if we want to get pregnant, that is extremely frustrating, considering the wide range of effects it has on our bodies. Morman says that while there is a lot more information available now than when she was diagnosed, some treatment options have become worse: hair removal treatments used to be offered on the NHS for women diagnosed with PCOS, but not any more. As Teede acknowledges: 'One of the reasons why people go to alternative sources of information is because they're not satisfied with what they get from the health practitioners.' Misinformation about PCOS abounds, and much of it is repeated by medical professionals. To help counteract this, Teede helped to develop the extensively researched international evidence-based guidelines for PCOS in 2023, which I now regard as the holy grail of information about the condition. Her team has also created an app called AskPCOS, which can help women to find the right treatment pathways. It doesn't cover everything, but it is thorough, uses up-to-date research and doesn't make bold claims about 'curing' PCOS, as some people do on social media. 'There are a whole lot of individual practitioners, most of whom are not actually practitioners, who are there for financial gain,' says Teede. 'The biggest challenge I have is the misinformation, and then associated with that, the harm that's done by denigrating actual evidence-based strategies. Which, in the end, does a disservice for women with the condition.' She is not wholly against what she terms 'complementary therapies' (ie supplements and diets), as long as women undertake them clear-eyed and unswayed by false claims. But she does not believe people will stop looking to these types of practitioners for support until there are more trustworthy medical repositories, alongside legal liability for people who provide misinformation. Having researched PCOS over the past year (though there's still much to learn), here's what I've tried: in terms of monitoring the metabolic symptoms, I've checked my blood pressure and had screenings for diabetes and high cholesterol. My levels were fine. I've come off my birth control (some types of pill can help with the symptoms of PCOS; this one didn't) and started taking a well-researched supplement called myo-inositol, which may help with insulin resistance. But I've since come off it because it made me dizzy, a known side-effect for some people. I get periods most months, though I did so before I was put on the pill in my teens, so this may not have affected my ovulation. In terms of cosmetic treatments, I have moved away from laser hair removal, which can cause women with PCOS to experience paradoxical hypertrichosis – the regrowth of darker hairs, seemingly stimulated by the laser. Instead, I have begun electrolysis, the only way to permanently remove hairs. I'm on a break from it as the treatment has been slow and moderately painful, causing breakouts that take weeks to heal. Thankfully, the acne on my face has never been severe, but I have got topical treatment for it from an online dermatologist and benzoyl peroxide from my GP. My body acne has taken longer to get under control; I had a private online consultation with a dermatologist, which cost me £100, and have found reasonably priced skincare products that mostly work for me (shout out to Cerave). The reason I am sharing this is not so that others with PCOS can attempt to mirror my journey. Everyone is different. For example, some women are comfortable with having visible facial hair. It is not inherently shameful and I hate that it is considered to be so. Instead, I am sharing because it shows how much time and energy I have had to put into dealing with PCOS. As it stands, all women with the condition need to go on a journey of evidence-based self-education, because it is unlikely that their primary care doctors will be able to adequately direct them, and there are very few accessible specialists. We have to test out treatments and cosmetic procedures – many unregulated – for ourselves, working through trial and error. Perhaps one of the biggest learnings I've taken from this year has been around mental expenditure. While we undoubtedly have to demand better treatment from our doctors, and ask them to seek out research, those of us with chronic conditions have personal choices to make. Even in an ideal system, where I could be supported on and off medication with all the necessary tests, I would still have to make a judgment call about how much time and energy to invest in 'managing' my PCOS. It is lifelong and incurable, and, for me at least, learning to live with it has become just as important as tackling some of the issues that it causes. That is not to say people with PCOS should give up – learn to embrace their facial hair or uncomfortable acne, or the more serious difficulties related to heart health or diabetes – but it does move it in my mind from a space of hopelessness to one of pragmatism. And it has allowed me to give myself a mental break. 'You do need to have at least four periods a year, because otherwise it's a higher risk of getting cancer of the womb, for example,' says Teede. She says that people with PCOS must go for an annual checkup, including blood pressure tests. 'But you don't need to carry that around permanently,' she adds. The other brilliant news is that, in the background, things are changing. A new study shows that awareness of the syndrome has grown massively in the past eight years. In the UK, there is collaborative work happening to make sure that the syndrome becomes a research priority, including an all-party parliamentary group. 'We'll actually have proper pathways for PCOS treatment, so hopefully that should improve standard of care,' says Morman. For me, I had my foray into the land of misinformation and I battled my way out of it. I have sought out community with other women who have the condition, and I'm taking steps to mitigate its potential effect on my fertility in the future. Most of all, I feel incredibly thankful that I have been diagnosed in an era where there are women like Teede and Morman who are fighting for the recognition and evidence-based treatment of PCOS. We are not at a loss. We are at the bright beginning.

Scottish Sun

10 hours ago

• Scottish Sun

It was worst pain of my life, says Kate Lawler after hospital dash on holiday in Greece uncovered health trauma

Find out the symptoms to look out for as the little-known condition affects 1.5million people in the UK... with Kate opening up on a life-changing procedure CRIPPLED BY AGONY It was worst pain of my life, says Kate Lawler after hospital dash on holiday in Greece uncovered health trauma Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) FOR five years, Kate Lawler battled debilitating stomach pain. But doctors repeatedly told the TV personality, 45, 'everything is fine', so she assumed it was nothing to worry about. 5 Kate Lawler battled debilitating stomach pain for years before being diagnosed with pelvic congestion syndrome (PCS) Credit: Rex 5 PCS is a little-known condition caused by hidden varicose veins around the ovaries and womb 5 Kate was treated with pelvic vein embolisation, saying the procedure changed her life Credit: Instagram It wasn't until she was rushed to hospital while on holiday in Greece that she began to suspect something serious might be wrong. But even then, it took numerous scans back home in the UK and several misdiagnoses for her to discover the truth. Kate, who won Big Brother in 2002, tells Sun on Sunday Health: 'My symptoms started in December 2017. 'The abdominal pain was worse than any pain I've ever had. 'It was crippling - sometimes too unbearable to even get out of bed - and it felt even worse during menstruation and sexual intercourse. 'It was a sharp, stabbing pain that would last from 10 seconds to several hours. 'Then we were on holiday in 2018 and I thought I had a serious hernia or something was wrong with me, to the point that I went to hospital. 'But doctors thought I was just going mad. They just said, 'You're fine,' and left it at that. 'I was made to believe it was simply caused by my hormones, or ovulation.' The mum-of-one, from London, visited her GP twice and was told it might be a hernia, and she believed it could also be endometriosis, but she wasn't offered a referral. The 5 causes of pain in the pelvis all women should know Desperate for answers, she visited a private gynaecologist in November 2021. 'She did internal scans and all the tests and said, 'Absolutely everything is fine',' Kate says. 'All she could tell me was that everything was clear, which was a relief. 'But also, when you're told everything looks normal but you're still experiencing intense pain, you then start to think, 'Am I making this up in my head?' 'I didn't want to be a burden and keep going to the doctors, but I was so desperate to get it sorted. 'In the end I literally felt like I was going to have to live with the pain forever.' In the end I literally felt like I was going to have to live with the pain forever Kate Lawler It was only during a chance conversation at a routine appointment for her varicose veins in August 2022 that she discovered she had pelvic congestion syndrome (PCS) - a little-known condition caused by hidden varicose veins around the ovaries and womb. It's most common in women aged 20 to 45 who have given birth more than once, as well as those with varicose veins, a family history of them, or polycystic ovary syndrome. Most patients experience dull, achy or heavy pain in their pelvis. It may feel worse at the end of the day, before or during your period, during or after sex, and when you stand or sit for long periods. Some people also need to use the toilet more urgently, or have pain when they pee. Most Brits have never heard of PCS, but it affects around 1.5million people in the UK. 'We're a very veiny family' Kate, who has appeared on Hole in the Wall, Celebrity Total Wipeout and Love Island, says: 'It was only when I went to see Professor Mark Whiteley at The Whiteley Clinic that I heard about PCS. 'I was getting the varicose veins on my legs treated and he started talking about PCS and I said, 'Sorry, what are you talking about? Because I can relate to all the symptoms you're saying.' 'I felt like that was exactly what I had. 'I had never linked my varicose veins to my pelvis but he offered to test me. 'My mum's got varicose veins, my grandparents had them, and my dad's got them all over his leg. We're a very veiny family. 'Eventually your varicose veins and your legs can cause pain and discomfort and you can end up having ulcers, which my grandma had. 'Varicose veins and PCS are often interlinked. And once I'd had the test, it transpired that I had both.' 5 The condition affects around 1.5million people in the UK Credit: Getty The most common treatment for PCS is pelvic vein embolisation - a walk-in-walk-out procedure which involves placing tiny coils, thinner than human hair, inside the damaged veins under X-ray guidance. Kate says the procedure in November 2022 was 'uncomfortable but not painful' - and it has changed her life. 'Suffer in silence' 'I was holding a stress squeezer and cursed a few times, but once it was over it was amazing,' she says. 'I realised, 'God, I was in a lot of pain before'. I would wake up and immediately be in pain, and no amount of painkillers would get rid of it. 'I just learnt to live with it - though I didn't want to be on painkillers my whole life. 'I can't explain how much I've improved and how I no longer feel crippled by this pain that would strike at any time.' Like thousands of others, Kate is frustrated by the lack of awareness around the condition. 5 No woman should suffer in silence, says Kate Credit: Getty She says: 'So many women go to the NHS or private doctors and they're just not given enough training when it comes to women's health, and that includes things like menopause, perimenopause and PCS. 'They get trained in a bit of everything, but unfortunately it's not enough. 'What Prof Whiteley is doing is incredible, and we just need to get the word out there. 'I want women to be able to find out exactly what's wrong with them if they're experiencing the same things I did, because most are misdiagnosed. 'I've spoken to many different people who have suffered from it, and most of them will go into hospital, have loads of scans, and then just be sent home. 'One woman was actually told to have a hysterectomy unnecessarily. The gynaecologist didn't know what was causing the pelvic pain so he thought, 'Oh, I'll take out your uterus.'' A lot of the women we see will have been suffering from pelvic pain for many years but their conditions will remain undiagnosed Dr Sophie Strong She adds: 'Women's health is so underfunded and doctors need to be more informed. 'There needs to be more money and awareness so that when a woman goes to the GP in pain, it's not brushed aside.' Despite the challenges, Kate is urging women not to be shy about asking for help or thinking they're making a fuss. 'No woman should suffer in silence,' she says. Dr Sophie Strong, consultant gynaecologist at The Whiteley Clinic, adds: 'A lot of the women we see will have been suffering from pelvic pain for many years but their conditions will remain undiagnosed. 'Our new Pelvic Pain Clinic is a place for women who have been told there's no hope and there's nothing that can be done for them. We can make a real difference.'