The truth about five food myths

Eating at night makes you fat

A Swedish study comparing obese and non-obese women found that the obese women ate more meals and more of their meals were eaten in the afternoon, evening or night. Proof perhaps that you get fatter because you have less time to burn off those calories before you go to sleep, or because your metabolism slows down in the evening? Well, actually no.

"The key problem...was that these obese women were eating more meals (and more calories) - the issue wasn't the time of day that they ate," says Drs Carroll and Vreeman.

By contrast the idea that skipping breakfast is linked to weight gain appears to be valid. It seems those who eat breakfast do a better job of evenly distributing how much they eat during the rest of the day.

"When you eat three regular meals, you are less likely to overeat at any one particular meal. The key to weight loss is very simple: eat fewer calories than your body burns. As long as you do that, it doesn't matter what time of day you eat - you'll lose weight."