The argument for eating a lighter dinner used to just be as a way to control your weight, but new research says there's a possibly even more important factor. Scientists at the Open University of Catalonia in Spain and Columbia University in New York found that those who eat more than 45 percent of their daily calories after 5 p.m. have higher glucose levels than those who eat less after that time of day.

Elevated blood sugar has the potential to cause serious health problems and researchers found these results were independent of the participant's weight, body composition, energy output or what they ate.

"Maintaining high levels of glucose over long periods of time can have implications including a higher risk of progressing to type 2 diabetes, an increase in cardiovascular risk due to the damage that high glucose levels do to blood vessels, and increased chronic inflammation, which aggravates cardiovascular and metabolic damage," said researcher Diana Díaz Rizzolo.

There were 26 participants in the study between the ages of 50 and 70. They were all overweight or obese and had prediabetes or type 2 diabetes. Their glucose tolerance levels were measured before, during and after the study.

The group was divided between those who consumed a large portion of their calories before the evening and those who ate 45 percent or more of their daily intake after 5 p.m.

Both groups were given the same foods and the same amount of calories, but they ate them at different times. Those in the study had their blood sugar measured and they used a mobile app to track their consumption real time during the day.

Those who ate more late had poorer tolerance of glucose regardless of their weight or the composition of their diet. The study showed those participants also tended to eat larger amounts of carbohydrates and fats during the evening.

"The body's ability to metabolize glucose is limited at night," Díaz Rizzolo said, "because the secretion of insulin is reduced, and our cells' sensitivity to this hormone declines due to the circadian rhythm, which is determined by a central clock in our brain that is coordinated with the hours of daylight and night."

Díaz Rizzolo stressed the importance of when you eat is just as important as what you eat. "Until now, personal decisions in nutrition have been based on two main questions: how much we eat, and what foods to choose," she said. "With this study, a new factor in cardiometabolic health is beginning to become increasingly important: when we eat. The highest levels of calorie intake during the day should be at breakfast and lunch, instead of at teatime and dinner."

Click here to read more in the journal Nutrition & Diabetes.