A new woe has been added to the already known problems of eating fat-rich diet – disrupting the body’s 24-hour internal clock. In a study published in the November 7 issue of the journal Cell Metabolism, scientists at the Northwestern University and Evanston Northwestern Healthcare, found that overeating alters the core mechanism of the body clock, throwing off the timing of internal signals including appetite control, critical for good health.
Animals on a high fat diet exhibited sudden disruption of their 24-hour internal clock or the circadian clock resulting in extra eating even during times they should have been asleep or at rest.
Researchers found that over eating results in actual change in the genes, which encode the biological clock in the brain and its peripheral tissues resulting in diminished expression of the genes.
The study was conducted on mice with same genetic trait. They were divided into two groups; one group was kept on healthy diet whereas the other group was fed fat rich foods. Those on a high fat diet showed marked change in their daily activity with shift in their activity pattern, eating even when they were supposed to be asleep.
Source:biology news
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