A study in

The study, conducted in Japan, examined 60, 000 type 2 diabetes patients who went for health check ups between 2008 and 2013.

Researchers asked the subjects about their eating habits, sleep patterns, how fast they ate, and whether they snacked after dinner and before bed.

The findings saw that people who ate slowly were less likely to be obese and had smaller waistlines than the fast eaters.

People who snacked after dinner were more likely to gain weight.

Eating breakfast had no bearing on weight gain. But skipping breakfast frequently was linked to elevated risk of disease.

According to Time the reason why eating quickly is associated with weight gain is because it leads to glucose intolerance and insulin resistance which affects metabolism, and fat burning.

Late night snacking leads to weight gain because sleep requires minimal energy so all the energy ends up converted to fat.