Research
Hormonal
Plasma ghrelin exhibits a diurnal pattern with preprandial increases and postprandial decreases, peaking at 0200 h, suggesting ghrelin acts as a meal-initiation signal entrained to sleep and meal timing.
Your hunger hormone (ghrelin) naturally rises before meals and peaks in the early morning hours (around 2 AM). This rhythm suggests that late-night hunger is biologically driven. Aligning your last meal with this natural dip might help manage overnight cravings.
ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
Circulating plasma ghrelin showed a diurnal pattern with preprandial increases, postprandial decreases, and a maximum peak at 0200 h.
Source
Plasma Ghrelin Levels in Lean and Obese Humans and the Effect of Glucose on Ghrelin Secretion
Tomomi Shiiya et al. · The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism · 2002
DOI 10.1210/jcem.87.1.8129
cross_sectional · n=98Cited 1,265×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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- Fasting plasma ghrelin concentrations are negatively correlated with body mass index (BMI), with lower levels in obesity and higher levels in anorexia nervosa, indicating that chronic positive energy balance suppresses ghrelin secretion.Good
- Acute administration of glucose (oral or intravenous) and food intake causes a significant decrease in plasma ghrelin concentrations, reaching a nadir of approximately 66-69% of basal levels, indicating ghrelin reflects acute feeding state.Good
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