Patrick Wyatt
Patrick Wyatt is the first author of the 2021 paper in Nature Metabolism reporting that it is the dip in blood sugar a couple of hours after a meal, rather than the earlier spike, that goes with feeling hungry and eating more later on. The study followed 1,070 people wearing continuous glucose monitors, small sensors that track blood sugar minute by minute, across thousands of meals, some standardised and some eaten in ordinary life.
Who they are
The commercial interest is disclosed, because it is a fact about the evidence. Wyatt is or has been an employee of ZOE, the company that sells personalised nutrition subscriptions built on exactly this kind of finding, and the research programme is ZOE's. The work is nonetheless real, peer-reviewed and published in a Nature journal. Conflicted is not the same as compromised. Use it, and say who paid.
No other biography is recorded here, and none is guessed at.
Key papers
Wyatt, P., et al. (2021). "Postprandial glycaemic dips predict appetite and energy intake in healthy individuals", Nature Metabolism, 3, 523 to 529. First author. 1,070 participants. People whose blood sugar dropped further below its starting level two to three hours after eating reported more hunger, waited less time before their next meal, and ate more over the rest of the day. Abstract and reported figures read. Commercially conflicted: ZOE employment and funding.
Key ideas
The timing is the interesting part. The folk story blames the sugar spike. The evidence points at the dip that follows it, a couple of hours later, which is exactly the mid-afternoon scene most people actually recognise.
The relationship is real, consistent across a large group, and weak. It shifts averages. It says very little about any one person's afternoon, and nothing here is a reason for anybody to buy a glucose monitor.
This site is careful to keep the dip separate from reactive hypoglycaemia, which is a clinical condition and a different matter entirely.
Concepts on this site
Sources
- Wyatt, P., et al. (2021). Nature Metabolism, 3, 523 to 529. Commercially conflicted, disclosed above and in the article body.
- Vault record, 2026-09-11. No affiliation beyond the ZOE connection is asserted.