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No, food eaten after 8 pm not poisonous

“Any food you consume after 8 P.M. everyday is equally a poison to your body,” claims a post shared on Facebook in Nigeria in January 2020.

It’s the first on a list of five health claims, all headed by: “This Is What Will Happen To You If You Eat Past 8p.m.” The other four claims aren’t related to when food is eaten.

The post has been shared more than 100 times. 

But does eating food after eight in the evening make the food poisonous? We asked an expert.



Maybe eat early – but fresh food not poisonous at night


“It is not poison as long as the food is in good condition before consumption,” Prof Simeon Chituru Achinewhu, a food and nutritional biochemistry specialist and fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Food Science and Technology, told Africa Check.

“But we advise people to eat their food early.”

Eating early in the evening, a few hours before bed, may help ease digestion and increase metabolism, he said.

Fresh food – food that isn’t rotten – is safe to eat, any time of the day or night.

Eating after 8 pm doesn’t turn food into poison. – Jennifer Ojugbeli




 

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