[The Scientist (OP)]

I've heard that it is not advisable to consume your after 9 p.m. as it takes 3 hours to digest and by doing so when you sleep before the 3 hours, the food you just consumed will be accumulated as fats. What are your views on this topic? Thanks!

[Variola]

I used to think this was true, and indeed I hear it repeated all over the net on diet programmes etc  But the more I study biochemistry, the more I think it is cobblers, and my lecturer agrees.
It does take between 2-4 hours for anything in your stomach to be broken down, and released into your duodenum but it is not an all or nothing situation. Small amounts of chyme (the broken down food) and released on a regular basis to be process by the rest of the intestinal tract, this is where the main bulk of digestion happens and the various food components assigned down their individual biochemical pathways. Your body requires a good supply of glucose all the time to maintain function, in the fed state the will only use glucose as an energy source it cannot use fats. When you sleep, your body is unfed, so it maintains glucose levels by gluconeogenesis, otherwise you would have to wake up for food in the night. Glycogen is replenished during the day, when food intake is increased.
You do have a lesser energy requirement at night, but not enough to say all late night meals are converted to fats.   
While it would be true to say that going to sleep on a very full stomach would not be good, as your digestion would be sluggish, I don't think the time of eating is important, more what you eat or how much. The body will only take what it needs, if it needs the food eaten late at night to be converted into glucose, then it will do so, if it has no need for glucose generation, then it will convert the appropriate components into fats.

[SteveFish]

Variola, I always liked the word "chyme" because it makes me think of a heavy and sticky substance that I could make into an (imaginary) ball and plop it from hand to hand. Tell this to your lecturer.

[CliffordK]

If you have acid reflux disease (heartburn), then it may be advisable not to eat just before laying down.

Some diets suggest not eating a few hours before going to bed...  I have a bad habit of doing snacking in the evening, so it probably isn't a bad idea to not eat 3 hrs before bedtime when dieting.

Otherwise, I don't see any problem with it.

[Variola]

Variola, I always liked the word "chyme" because it makes me think of a heavy and sticky substance that I could make into an (imaginary) ball and plop it from hand to hand. Tell this to your lecturer.

 [] []

I have always like the word 'Bolus', makes a useful alternative swear word when I stub my toes!  []




Pox

[Airthumbs]

I sometimes wake up in the night hungry, have something to eat and then go back to bed again.  Also if I do eat a large amount of food and then goto bed I feel like I am still nice and full in the morning  []  I imagined that the digestive process slows down when your asleep and when awake the process begins again at full momentum so to speak.