Late-night eating linked with weight gain, diabetes: Study

A study has revealed details about the metabolism of late-night eating, which has been linked to weight gain and diabetes.

It is well known that time, sleep, and obesity is linked, but they are misunderstood because overnutrition can disrupt circadian rhythms and alter fat tissue, according to a Northwestern University study.

The study also showed that energy release may control energy balance in humans through their internal clocks.

In addition, scientists discovered that daytime is the most optimal time to dissipate energy as heat in the light environment of Earth's rotation.

These findings, published in the journal Science, have broad implications from dieting to sleep loss and the way patients who require long-term nutritional assistance are fed.

"It is well known, albeit poorly understood, that insults to the body clock are going to be insulting to metabolism”, a study author Dr. Joseph T Bass told the reporters. "When animals consume Western-style cafeteria diets — high fat, high carb — the clock gets scrambled," he 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," Bass said.

The science is underpinned by research done by Dr. Joseph T Bass and colleagues at Northwestern more than 20 years ago that found a relationship between the internal molecular clock and body weight, obesity, and metabolism in animals, according to a statement.

This study brings them a step closer, the scientists said in the statement. In the study, mice, who are nocturnal, were fed a high-fat diet either exclusively during their inactive (light) period or during their active (dark) period. Within a week, mice fed during light hours gained more weight compared to those fed in the dark.

The team also set the temperature where mice expend the least energy. This was done to mitigate the effects of temperature on their findings.

The increased energy expenditure prompted the scientists to investigate fat tissue metabolism to determine if the same impact happened within the endocrine organ.

They discovered that it did, and mice with genetically increased thermogenesis — or heat release from fat cells — were able to avoid weight gain and improve their health.

Hepler also discovered fruitless creatine cycling, a process in which creatine, a substance that aids in energy maintenance, stores and releases chemical energy within fat cells, hinting that creatine may be the mechanism underpinning heat release.