The scientists of north western medicine have uncovered that eating at late night leads to weight gain and diabetes. Research shows that overeating can disrupt cardiac rhythms and change in fat tissue.
New Northwestern research has shown for the first time that energy release may be the molecular mechanism through which our internal clocks control energy balance. From this the scientists have found that daytime is the ideal time in the light environment of the Earth’s rotation when it is most optimal to dissipate energy as heat.
These findings have broad implications from dieting to sleep loss.
“It is well known, albeit poorly understood, that insults to the body clock are going to be insults to metabolism,” said corresponding study author Dr. Joseph T. Bass, the Charles F. Kettering Professor of Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
“When animals consume Western style cafeteria diets — high fat, high carb — the clock gets scrambled,” Bass said. “The clock is sensitive to the time people eat, especially in fat tissue, and that sensitivity is thrown off by high-fat diets. We still don’t understand why that is, but what we do know is that as animals become obese, they start to eat more when they should be asleep. This research shows why that matters.”
Scrambling the internal clock
In the study, nocturnal mice, were fed a high-fat diet either exclusively during their inactive (light) period or during their active (dark) period. Within a week, mice fed during light hours gained more weight compared to those fed in the dark. The team also set the temperature to 30 degrees, where mice expend the least energy, to mitigate the effects of temperature on their findings.
The increase in energy expenditure led the team to look into metabolism of fat tissue to see if the same effect occurred within the endocrine organ. They found that it did, and mice with genetically enhanced thermogenesis — or heat release through fat cells — prevented weight gain and improved health.
Hepler identified futile creatine cycling, in which creatine (a molecule that helps maintain energy) undergoes storage and release of chemical energy, within fat tissues, implying creatine may be the mechanism underlying heat release.
Intermittent fasting and gastric feeding tubes
The findings could inform chronic care, Bass said, especially in patients who have gastric feeding tubes. Patients are commonly fed at night while they sleep, when they’re releasing the least amount of energy. Rates of diabetes and obesity tend to be high for these patients, and Bass thinks this could explain why. He also wonders how the research could impact Type II Diabetes treatment.
Should meal times be considered when insulin is given?
The challenge for Bass’s lab to find the control mechanisms that produce the relationship. This study brings them a step closer. Hepler will continue to research creatine metabolism. “We need to figure out how, mechanistically, the circadian clock controls creatine metabolism so that we can figure out how to boost it,” she said. “Clocks are doing a lot to metabolic health at the level of fat tissue, and we don’t know how much yet.”
Reference:
National Institutes of Health National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidne y Diseases, the National Institute on Aging and the American Heart Association Career Development Award.
By Abhishek Muthuraj
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