It's not just what you eat, but when: Eating lunch too late may make you fat

• Those who eat lunch after 3pm shed fewer pounds than those eating earlier
• Late eaters were also more likely to skip eating breakfast.

Taking a late lunch makes it much harder for people to lose weight, according to researchers. 

Those who ate before 3pm lost 30 per cent more weight than those who dined later in a 420-strong group of people taking part in a 20-week diet. 

Half of the group ate lunch - their biggest meal of the day - before 3pm, while half ate later. 

Those eating early lost an average of 22lb, 5lb more than the late eaters, reveals a report in theInternational Journal of Obesity.

Researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and the University of Murcia studied 420 overweight people who followed a 20-week weight-loss treatment programme in Spain.