Katherine McGehee, landscape architecture freshman, grabbed a table with friends before heading to a 30-minute line at Taco Bell.McGehee is not the only University student who enjoys a Taco Bell fix late at night.On campus, the “Fourth Meal” has replaced breakfast. Business at Taco Bell has been booming in the late night and early morning hours.”There is a tremendous difference in business between Taco Bell and Pizza Hut,” LSU Dining Director David Heidke said. “It’s the ‘Fourth Meal’ period; it really exists,” he said in reference to Taco Bell’s national advertising campaign promoting late night meals.The Taco Bell on campus boasted sales around $86,000 in spring 2008, compared to $33,000 in sales from the neighboring Pizza Hut. Figures from the fall 2008 semester are not yet available. A similar Outtakes area including a Taco Bell is planned to open in the Pentagon Dining Hall in the fall 2009 semester, Heidke said.Besides on-campus eateries, students can be found at Jack in the Box, Raising Cane’s, Louie’s Cafe and IHOP at any hour of the night. Whether it is a case of the munchies or a drunken craving, late night eating is a habit for many University students.”You can go with your friends. It’s fun,” said Mary Kay, marketing freshman.”I don’t like to go to the dining halls during peak hours,” McGehee said. “It is easier to get fast food.”When students drink late at night, they struggle to make healthy food choices, said Judith Myhand, nutrition instructor. Drinking leads to lower inhibitions, which can result in overeating, she said. “A person who would normally make wise choices when eating might eat differently if alcohol ‘relaxed’ their normal attentiveness to healthy eating,” Myhand said.Eating food late at night does not directly lead to weight gain, Myhand said. It is the kind of food that results in extra pounds.”When you are drunk, you don’t want to eat apples,” McGehee said.Myhand said peer influence, lowered inhibition and a party atmosphere encourage students to eat more than usual.Eating late at night is even a way for some students to procrastinate.”Instead of sleeping, studying or writing a paper, students eat,” Myhand said. “It is an avoidance behavior.”Contact Michael Lambert at [email protected]