False.
In past generations many families held to a consistent dinnertime. Now, the typical evening of the American family is much more complicated. It often involves parents chauffeuring one or more of their children to extracurricular activities and events, making it difficult to eat at the traditional dinner hour. In an article entitled “Impact of the daily meal pattern on energy balance”, France Bellisle states “The development of the obesity epidemic has coincided with the loosening of traditional meal patterns, and it seems legitimate to ask whether this has any impact on the energy balance of individuals and their ability to control weight”. Specifically, there is a question of whether eating late at night contributes to weight gain because of how the body treats those calories. There is a common misconception among many that calories eaten in the evening (say at 9:00 or 10:00 pm) are more readily stored as fat. It seems completely logical that food eaten in the morning will be burned up by our daily activities, while calories consumed just before bedtime will not have the same opportunity, and therefore be turned into fat. There are times when even health professionals have perpetuated this popular myth. However, I could find no evidence in the medical or nutritional literature that would suggest that the body digests and stores calories any differently in the morning or at night. Most nutrition experts agree that what is important is the number of total calories eaten per 24 hour period, regardless of at what time of day they are eaten. The question may not be when are we eating, but how much are we eating? It really gets down to calories in vs. calories out. Simply put, if you consume more calories than you burn, you will gain weight. If you burn more calories than you consume, you will lose weight. It is a simple equation, but certainly a challenge to accomplish.
Reference:
Bellisle F: Impact of the Daily Meal Pattern on Energy Balance. Scandinavian Journal of Nutrition (2004), Vol 48, pp. 114-118.