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While an occasional midnight raid on the refrigerator poses no threat to health for most of us, as a habitual pattern to combat sleeplessness, Night Eating Syndrome (NES) can play a powerful and destructive cyclical role in individuals battling obesity, affecting as many as one quarter of severely obese individuals. These individuals consumed over 50% of their food calories after 6 p.m. Looking for possible biochemical triggers underlying this pattern, scientists from the Clinical Research Department and the Laboratory of Gastroenterology of the University Hospital in Tromso, Norway examined the hormone activity of NES patients (12 night eaters and 21 controls) over the complete light-dark cycle. Since melatonin levels normally rise at night to induce and sustain sleep, this may explain why NES patients wake up more frequently at night. This "distinctive neuroendocrine pattern" in individuals with NES may provide the key to more successful treatment, said the researchers. Another key may involve the availability of tryptophan, an important amino acid, in the body.
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