The scientists from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies say that breakfast, lunch or dinner can be just as important to maintain normal weight, as well as what you eat.
The results of their work have been published in the Cell Metabolism journal. Researchers conducted a study involving mice whose diet contained a large amount of fat. The first group of mice was allowed to eat only during the day, for 8 hours, and the second one had no restrictions, they were eating at any time. While the first group of mice ate the same amount of food as the rodents in the second group, they did not develop obesity or other metabolic diseases.
According to the researchers, this finding suggests that obesity may be partly due to the mismatch between the schedule of food intake and the body work schedule, that is, the biological clock. Senior Research Fellow of the Salk Institute, Satchidananda Panda, says that every human body has its own clock. For example, liver and intestines can work at maximum efficiency only a certain amount of time during the day. The rest of the time, they are simply “asleep.” These metabolic cycles are of vital importance for various processes, including cholesterol drop and glucose production. Accordingly, they should be “turned on” during the consumption of food and “turned off” during breaks, or vice versa. Normal metabolic cycles may be disrupted when a person eats irregularly – during the day and even at night.
In the recent years, our eating habits have changed. We go to bed too late, we have a bigger choice of food and money to buy it in excess. The results of this study indicate that a limited “one-time” nutrition may be important to maintain a normal weight.
