Nighttime Light Ups Weight in Mice

The gentle glow of the television at night may be contributing to the obesity epidemic, findings from a mouse study suggest.

Mice exposed to even dim light at night gained significantly more weight and lost glucose tolerance compared with mice housed in a dark environment at night, Laura K. Fonken, a graduate student at Ohio State University, in Columbus, and colleagues found.

The night light-exposed mice didn't eat more or move around less overall, but did shift to more munching at off hours when they were inactive...