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Do you eat a snack after dinner? Many people do this every night. A new study says it may be bad for your liver.

Scientists at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) did the study. OHSU is in Portland, in the United States. They looked at information from almost 200,000 people. What is late-night eating? It means eating after dinner or after you go to bed.

The results were interesting. People who ate late had more liver disease. Their risk was 20 to 30 percent higher. The scientists looked at two problems. The first is fatty liver disease. This happens when too much fat builds up in the liver. The second is cirrhosis. In this serious illness, the liver has bad scars. But most people with a fatty liver never get cirrhosis.

Why is the time important? Our body has a clock inside. At night, the body gets ready for sleep. Then it does not use food very well.

The study does not prove that late eating causes liver disease. It only shows a link. Now OHSU is starting a new study. The lead doctor has simple advice. Try to stop eating a few hours before bedtime.

Do you often grab a snack after dinner, or even after you have gone to bed? If so, a new study suggests that your liver might not be very happy about it.

The research was led by Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) in Portland and published in the journal Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. The team looked at data from almost 200,000 people who had taken part in three large American health studies. Here, "late-night eating" meant eating after dinner or after going to bed.

According to OHSU, people who said they ate late at night had a 20 to 30 percent higher rate of liver disease than people who did not. The researchers focused on two conditions: fatty liver disease, which develops when too much fat builds up in the liver, and cirrhosis, a serious condition in which the liver becomes badly scarred. The lead author, Dr Robert Wilechansky, says fatty liver disease affects up to 30 percent of people in the United States. However, only a small number of them go on to develop cirrhosis.

So why does timing matter? The liver is closely connected to the body clock. Sleep scientist Andrew McHill explained that at night the body is getting ready for sleep, so it deals with food less efficiently. As a result, eating late can lead to obesity, diabetes and poor liver health.

Although the findings are interesting, the study used information that people reported about themselves. It shows a link, but it cannot prove that late eating causes liver disease. OHSU is now looking for volunteers for a new study that will track meal times directly. In the meantime, Dr Wilechansky says that finishing your food several hours before bedtime may help.

Most of us know the feeling: dinner is long over, yet a quiet trip to the kitchen seems harmless enough. A study led by Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) suggests that this habit may come at a cost, and the organ footing the bill could be the liver.

Published in the journal Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, the research drew on data from almost 200,000 participants in three large American studies: the Nurses' Health Study, the Nurses' Health Study II and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. The researchers defined late-night eating as eating after dinner or after going to bed, and the pattern they found was striking. According to OHSU, people who reported eating late had a 20 to 30 percent higher rate of liver disease than those who did not.

Two conditions were under the spotlight. The first, fatty liver disease, now officially known as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), occurs when excess fat accumulates in the liver. It is remarkably widespread: the lead author, hepatologist Robert Wilechansky, says it affects up to 30 percent of people in the United States. The second, cirrhosis, is far more serious, leaving the liver badly scarred. Reassuringly, most people with fatty liver never progress to that stage.

What makes the study intriguing is its focus on when people eat rather than what they eat. The liver is closely tied to the circadian rhythm, the body's internal clock. As co-author Andrew McHill, a sleep scientist, explained, eating while the body is winding down for sleep means food is processed less efficiently, which can pave the way for obesity, diabetes and poor liver health.

Still, the findings should be read with some caution. As ScienceDaily notes, the study was observational and relied on broad, self-reported information, so it reveals a link rather than proof of cause and effect. To dig deeper, OHSU is recruiting volunteers for a new study that will track meal times directly and test whether eating earlier improves health in people with fatty liver disease. In the meantime, Wilechansky suggests a modest change: finishing your daily calories several hours before bedtime. It is certainly food for thought.