Is it just the calorie intake, or does timing of meals affect weight? New research is revealing that the timing of eating significantly impacts the way the body processes calories.

A recent study, published in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition, set out to find out if the timing of food intake influences total energy intake, or TEI, and eating behaviors. 

According to Study Finds, the researchers from the Université Laval, in Québec City, Canada, divided 201 study participants into groups and measured their TEI (calories) after 5 p.m. and after 8 p.m. They also assessed eating behavior and psychosocial factors in the groups.

The researchers reported that late night eating was associated with more TEI and less healthy eating behavior traits. The experts said that this could explain the association between the timing of food intake and obesity.

The new research backs up earlier findings from researcher Frank Scheer, director of the Medical Chronobiology Program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. “Previous research by us and others had shown that late night eating is associated with increased obesity risk, increased body fat and impaired weight loss,” he said in a press release. He noted that obesity afflicts about 42% of the U.S. adult population and contributes to the onset of chronic diseases, including diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and other conditions.

Scheer and his colleagues found that eating later had profound effects on the hunger and appetite-regulating hormones leptin and ghrelin. Specifically, levels of the hormone leptin, which signals satiety, were decreased across the 24 hours in the late eating group compared to the early eating group. When participants ate later, they also burned calories at a slower rate and exhibited changes in adipose tissue which promotes fat growth.

The latest Canadian study delved into other behaviors associated with late night eating, such as eating while watching television, expecting that dinner would be more rewarding if consumed later in the day, and increased alcohol consumption. Late eaters also had lower energy during the day and reduced morning appetite, says Study Finds. The researchers said that consuming a high percentage of calories later in the day and into the night could produce chronodisruption, a state where the peripheral clocks of the organs of our body, excluding the brain, are out of synch with the brain’s clock. This can impact many natural body processes.

These studies are consistent with a large body of research that suggests later eating increases the risk for obesity. The new research makes the case for enjoying an “early bird special,” to reduce your risk of obesity. According to experts, the best time to eat dinner is within the same time frame regularly.

“Eating between 5 and 7 p.m. would be ideal,” says Dr. Dana Cohen, an integrative medical doctor in New York City. “However, the later it gets, the less you should consume.”