Eating At “Irregular & Unusual” Times Can Cause Weight Gain And Diabetes: Study

A recent study has shed light on how people who work at odd hours or at night are more likely to gain weight and diabetes. This is usually because their eating patterns are not timed with natural daylight. This ends up disrupting their liver’s internal clock and its signals. As a result, the brain overcompensates and signals us to overeat at the wrong times. But can this be corrected? Read on to find out!

How Liver-Brain Communication Affects Daily Eating Patterns

A new study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has discovered a connection between the liver’s internal clock and feeding centres in the brain. After extensive research, they found that the human “body knows when to eat.”

According to the study, the liver sends signals to the brain via the vagus nerve, letting the brain know if eating is happening at a time that follows the body’s circadian rhythm. A circadian rhythm is a 24-hour internal cycle and includes sleep-wake cycles, hormone release, and eating habits. Now, these signals tend to get affected if you’re working late or at unusual hours. As a result, the brain overcompensates and leads to overeating at the wrong times. This overeating can lead to weight gain and even diabetes.

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What The Study Says

For this study, Mitchell Lazar, MD, PhD, the director of Penn Medicine’s Institute for Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism, and her team observed mice. This is because “mice and humans normally eat at times when they are awake and alert.”

They specifically targeted genes called REV-ERBs in the liver cells of mice as they help regulate the body’s circadian rhythm. The researchers found that when these REV-ERB genes were turned off in mice (causing the liver to have a faulty clock), eating patterns shifted drastically. They found that the mice ate more food while they were less active.

They also found that these effects were reversible. When the nerve connection was cut off, they were able to restore normal eating patterns in obese mice. This means that “targeting liver-brain communication pathway could be a promising approach for weight management in individuals with disrupted circadian rhythms.” The researchers believe that, with more research, these findings help those struggling with metabolic disorders caused by irregular eating schedules.

Also Read: Men & Women May Need Different Breakfasts For Weight Loss, Says Study; Here’s Why

What are your thoughts on this study? Let us know in the comments!

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