Delayed Hunger May Ontribute To Obesity

Oct, 2022 - By WMR

According to experimental data from a recent study, eating late results in decreased energy consumption, increased appetite, and alterations in adipose tissue, all of which together may raise the risk of obesity.

Although popular healthy diet adages discourage midnight munching, Few studies have carefully examined the combined effect of late eating on the three crucial determinants of weight regulation and, subsequently, the risk of obesity. These determinants are controlled calorie intake, controlled calorie expenditure, and controlled molecular changes in fat tissue.The timing of the meals has a big impact on how much energy humans burn, how hungry humans feel, and how human adipose tissue's molecular pathways function, according to a new study by researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital, one of the founding institutions of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system.

Vujovic, Scheer, and his team investigated 16 patients with a body mass index that fell into the overweight or obese category. Each patient underwent two lab protocols: one with a strict early meal schedule and the other with meals that were planned for around four hours later in the day however were otherwise identical. In the course of laboratory testing,the researchers collected biopsies of adipose tissue from a selection of subjects in order to evaluate gene expression patterns between the early and late feeding procedures. This gave them the chance to assess how the timing of snacks affected the adipogenesis-related cellular processes.

The findings showed that eating later had significant impacts on the hunger and appetite-controlling chemicals leptin and ghrelin, which affect human desire to eat. Leptin levels. compared to the early feeding settings, were particularly reduced out over period of 24 hours mostly in late meal situation. Participants who ate later burnt calories more slowly and showed altered gene expression in their adipose tissue, which promotes greater adipogenesis and decreased lipolysis. Changes in the various energy balance control systems, a sign of how the bodies use the food at the time of eating, were found by the researchers. By using a randomised crossover study and strictly controlling for behavioural and environmental factors such as physical activity, body language, sleep, and exposure to light.

To make their findings more applicable to a larger population, Scheer's team plans to include more participents in subsequent studies.