Nutrition, research and patient care

On dinner timing, weight management, emerging research, pain, disease prevention, healthcare gaps and more

(In the weekly Health Matters newsletter, Athira Elssa Johnson writes about getting to good health, and staying there. You can subscribe here to get the newsletter in your inbox.)

What we eat, when we eat and how we manage our weight remain important questions in health, even as advice often runs ahead of the evidence. This week, I examine one deceptively simple question: is there a right time to have dinner?

Does eating late really affect our health? Is the time at which we eat more important than what we eat? And how should dinner timing be considered alongside sleep, work schedules, physical activity and the overall quality of the diet? Doctors explain what we know about meal timing , and what it can and cannot tell us about maintaining good health.