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New research led by Oregon Health & Science University suggests you should think twice about indulging in a late-night snack if you'd like to preserve liver health.

The study, published in the journal Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, documents a correlation between late-night eating—defined as eating after dinner or after bedtime—and a heightened risk of two types of liver disease: metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease and cirrhosis.

Previous research has associated late-night snacking with heart disease and obesity, but in the new study, researchers set out to look for a link between late-night eating and liver disease.

"A few studies have hinted at this idea but this is among the first long-term analyses to explicitly draw the connection to fatty liver disease," said lead author Robert Wilechansky, a hepatologist at OHSU who specializes in liver transplantation.

Wilechansky noted that night shift workers grapple with misalignment of the body's natural day-night cycle, with elevated rates of obesity and heart disease. With as much as 30% of the U.S. population affected by fatty liver disease, he wondered whether small changes in meal timing might make a difference.

"We know the liver is very much in tune with the body's circadian rhythms ," he said.

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