Eating late linked to weight gain

A study on mice has suggested that eating at night can affect metabolism and cause weight gain.

“A relatively modest shift in food consumption into what is normally the rest period for mice can favor energy storage,” said Georgios Paschos from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, who participated in the research.

According to the study, mice that had the “clock gene” ARNTL removed from them tend to eat in the daytime instead of at night, which is unusual because mice are nocturnal. The disrupted eating habits caused mice to become obese without consuming extra calories, Paschos said.

Researchers found out that by duplicating the abnormal behavior of the mice with compromised biological clocks, they are able to cause obesity in normal mice.

Such a behavioral shift in mice is similar to night-eating syndrome in humans, an eating disorder which causes people to go on eating binges at night. The people with this syndrome are also known to be more susceptible to obesity.

The results suggested that when the animal’s daily rhythm is thrown off, its metabolism also changes. This could explain why night-shift workers or people with sleep disorders are more likely to suffer obesity and metabolic syndrome.

The study was published in the latest edition of Nature Medicine.

기사제공:코리아헤럴드

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