Does the time of day matter? Or is it more about the snack of choice?

It’s a line that’s been rattled off by nutritionists for decades: when food is consumed later in the evening, it’s more likely to cause weight gain … But does that idea actually have legs?

The evidence remains unclear, says Dr Adrian Brown, a dietitian and senior research fellow at University College London specialising in weight management. “We do have data showing that individuals who eat later at night tend to have a higher weight,” he says. “But they are associations and do not show that eating late at night ‘causes’ weight gain.”