Due to busy work and long commuting distances, eating dinner to order has become a luxury for many people.
A study published in the international authoritative journal "Nutrients" suggests that irregular dinner times will greatly increase the risk of hemorrhagic stroke (cerebral hemorrhage).
Experts interviewed
Han Ping, deputy director and researcher of the Institute of Health Management, China Health Promotion Foundation
Yang Shihan, nutritionist, Department of Nutrition, Shanghai Ruijin Hospital (North Campus).
Dinner is irregular and the risk of cerebral hemorrhage is high
In this study, the research team from Osaka University in Japan analyzed the data of 71,833 participants aged 40~79 years, focusing on the association between their dinner time and the risk of stroke (including hemorrhagic stroke and ischemic stroke), coronary heart disease, and total cardiovascular disease death.
Participants were divided into three groups: an early dinner group (before 20:00), an irregular dinner group, and a later dinner group (after 20:00).
At baseline, none of the participants had cardiovascular disease or cancer; At 19 years of follow-up, 4706 people died from total cardiovascular disease.
After adjusting for cardiovascular disease risk factors, the researchers found:
Compared with those who ate dinner before 20:00, the mortality rate of hemorrhagic stroke in the group who ate dinner regularly increased by 44%;
No clear association was found between irregular dinner times and the risk of death from ischemic stroke and coronary heart disease;
Among obese participants, there was a positive correlation between irregular dinner and total stroke, intracerebral haemorrhage, and total cardiovascular mortality.
There are two main points at dinner time
This study reminds us that no matter how busy we are, we must eat dinner on time, and there are two important points to a healthy dinner: one is regularity, and the other is not too late.
The stomach has its own biological rhythm, if you can't eat on time for a long time, or even hungry, it will inevitably damage its function.
From the perspective of endocrinology and digestion, combined with modern people's work and rest habits, it is best not to eat dinner more than 20:00, and try to maintain regular meals every day.
In general, carbohydrates stay in the stomach for more than 2 hours, and protein and fatty foods are relatively slow. Three meals a day are mostly mixed diets, and the gastrointestinal emptying time is about 4 hours or more.
According to 22:00 as the best bedtime calculation, it is more appropriate to have dinner at 6~7 pm. If you have to eat too late, don't go to bed right away, and the later you eat, the less you eat.
Dinner too late may lead to eating more due to excessive hunger, resulting in weight gain; In addition, food falls asleep before it has time to be fully digested, which is easy to cause indigestion; Forced overtime can also affect sleep quality.
Previously, a study conducted by the University of Barcelona in Spain showed that the longer the interval between dinner and sleep, the lower the risk of breast and prostate cancer.
A good dinner doesn't just depend on the time
Regarding dinner, Zou Dajin, vice chairman of the Diabetes Branch of the Chinese Medical Association, once put forward a view: 1/4 of the dinner is to maintain life, and the other 3/4 maintains the income of doctors. Suffice it to see the importance of dinner for health.
A high-quality dinner not only depends on the time, but also combines nutrition and reasonable combination.
30% energy
Overall, in three meals a day, the energy provided by breakfast should account for 25%~30% of the energy of the whole day, lunch accounts for 30%~40%, and dinner accounts for 30%~35%.
Eat until you are seven or eight full
Eating too much at night increases the burden on the stomach and intestines, and will also affect sleep. Moreover, the human metabolic rate at night is only half of that of the day, so you can eat until you are seven minutes full, which is such a feeling:
The stomach is not yet full, but the enthusiasm for food has declined, the speed of active eating has also slowed down significantly, if you remove the food and change the topic, you will soon forget to eat.
Vegetables: Meat: Rice = 2:1:1
The ratio of vegetables, meat, and staples to dinner is usually 2:1:1. If you do not consume enough vegetables for breakfast and lunch, the ratio of vegetables, meat to rice for dinner can be increased to 3:1:1.
Dinner can not be less protein, but can not eat too much meat, prefer soy products, fish and shrimp, poultry, lean meat, etc., they are low in calories, try not to eat fatty steak, braised pork, etc.
In order to give you a more intuitive understanding, here are some examples of good dinners and bad dinners.
Examples of quality dinners
shiitake mushroom greens + homemade tofu + brown rice;
spinach with sesame sauce + stir-fried chicken with cucumber bell pepper + quinoa rice;
stir-fried dried beans with celery + steamed fish + sweet potato;
Stir-fried bean seedlings + stewed beef brisket with radish + mixed bean rice;
Cold lettuce + red braised prawns + multigrain steamed buns;
broccoli with garlic + dumplings;
Multigrain rice + spicy cucumber + winter melon rib soup + stir-fried greens + homemade tofu.
Examples of substandard dinners
Fried noodles, shredded potato rice bowl, braised pork rice, chutney, skewers.
Eat on time no matter how busy you are, and when you fool dinner for a long time, the health risks are slowly accumulating. ▲
Editor of this issue: Zheng Ronghua