Health benefits come from eating during the daytime, demonstrating a potential link to energy release. Scientists at Northwestern Medicine have uncovered the mechanism behind why eating late at night is linked to diabetes and weight gain. According to the CDC, 37.3 million Americans have diabet
New research has shown for the first time that energy release may be the molecular mechanism through which our internal clocks control energy balance. These findings have broad implications from dieting to sleep loss and more.
The connection between eating time, sleep, and obesity is well-known but poorly understood, with research showing that overnutrition can change fat tissue and disrupt circadian rhythms. “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.
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.