This article was written by Sandee LaMotte in CNN:

We all know that eating later in the day isn’t good for our waistlines, but why? A new study weighed in on that question by comparing people who ate the same foods - but at different times in the day.

“Does the time that we eat matter when everything else is kept consistent?” said first author Nina Vujović, a researcher in the division of sleep and circadian disorders at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

The answer was yes - eating later in the day will double your odds of being hungrier, according to the study published Tuesday in the journal Cell Metabolism.

“We found that eating four hours later makes a significant difference for our hunger levels, the way we burn calories after we eat, and the way we store fat,” Vujović said. “Together, these changes may explain why late eating is associated with increased obesity risk reported by other studies and provide new biological insight into the underlying mechanisms.”

The study provides support for the concept that circadian rhythm, which influences key physiologic functions such as body temperature and heart rate, affects how our bodies absorb fuel, researchers said.

The study does show eating later results in “an increase in hunger, impacts hormones and also changes gene expression, especially in terms of fat metabolism with a tendency towards less fat breakdown and more fat deposition,” said Dr. Bhanu Prakash Kolla, a professor of psychiatry and psychology at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and a consultant to Mayo’s Center for Sleep Medicine and Division of Addiction Medicine.

While prior studies have linked later eating to weight gain, this study did not measure weight loss and can not show a causal link, said Kolla, who was not involved in the study. In addition, research has shown that skipping breakfast is linked to obesity, he said.

“So could these results be a result of skipping breakfast rather than eating late? That’s an effect to consider for this study,” Kolla said.