Working in night shift ups risk of obesity

You may want to avoid doing those overnight shifts, as working in late night shifts is linked to 29 percent increase in risk of becoming obese or overweight, warns a study.

The results suggested that night shift workers had a higher frequency of developing abdominal obesity than other obesity types. Permanent night workers demonstrated a higher risk than rotating shift workers.

Researchers suggested that modifying working schedules to avoid prolonged exposure to long-term night shift work might help reduce the risk of obesity.

The findings, from the 28 published studies, suggested that night shift work was associated with a 29 percent increased risk of becoming obese or overweight.

Senior study author Dr Lap Ah Tse said that globally, nearly 0.7 billion workers are engaged in a shift work pattern.

The study revealed that much of the obesity and overweight among shift workers is attributable to such a job nature.

Obesity has been evident to be positively associated with several adverse health outcomes, such as breast cancer, cardiovascular diseases.

The research appears in Obesity Reviews journal.