Consuming food at night after the sun has gone down could trigger weight gain, according to a new study.
Obesity is a common health problem in the UK. According to the NHS, around one in four adults and one in five children aged ten to 11 are diagnosed as either overweight or obese.
Researchers at the Salk Institute in California and the University of Aberdeen set out to investigate whether or not there is a relationship between eating food at certain times in the day and body weight.
In a study of around 400 mice, the team fed the subjects diets high in fat, sugar, or both, or normal diets, over different periods of time - nine, 12 or 24 hours.
The results showed that mice that were in the nine and 12-hour feeding period gained significantly less weight than mice that were allowed to eat the same amount of food but at any point over 24 hours.
At weekends, the mice with restricted feed times could eat at any time of day, but even so, they still gained less weight, indicating their diet can withstand some temporary interruptions.
When obese subjects in the 24-hour feeding period were moved to restricted feed times, they lost five per cent of their body weight, despite still consuming the same amount of calories as before.
A similar study with mice revealed that restricting eating to half a day changed the balance of microbes in the gut.
Speaking to BBC News, Dr Perry Barrett - researcher at the University of Aberdeen - said: 'The revelation that there is a circadian rhythm in gut microbes now adds another dimension to this very interesting area of research.'
The researchers concluded that maintaining a 12-hour fast every 24 hours could be the key to controlling weight.
It was also noted that the mice that fasted at night had improved blood sugar and cholesterol levels, with reversed effects of diabetes.
The study has been published in the journal Cell Metabolism. View the abstract here