Chicago: People who eat a high-fat diet are more likely to binge eat at night, according to scientists at the Northwestern University.

Their esearch reveals that over-eating will alter the body’s internal clock, which regulates when we sleep, wake and feel hungry.

The conclusion was made after studying the reactions of mice fed on only high-fat foods. After two weeks, they exhibited an interference with their internal clocks, causing them to eat extra food when they should have been either asleep or at rest.

Prof Joe Bass, who led the research, said: “We found that as an animal on a high-fat diet gains weight it eats at the inappropriate time for its sleep and wake cycle all of the excess calories are consumed when the animal should be resting.

“For a human, that would be like raiding the refrigerator in the middle of the night and bingeing on junk food.”

The study, published in the Cell Metabolism journal also reveals that starting a high-fat diet increases the propensity for obesity because the body’s metabolism is disrupted and eating patterns become irregular.