A new British study has finally uncovered why the body processes foods differently during day and night, by determining how the fat cells function in the body.
In the study published in the Journal of Cell Reports, the researchers found that these cells function based on a shift system, so their performance differs between the day and the night based on the genes' rhythm, which the research team managed to determine.
During the study, seven participants underwent regulated sleep-wake cycles for three days, then, biopsies of fat tissue were taken at six hourly intervals, followed by an analysis of gene expression.
Researchers identified 727 genes in the fat tissue that express their own circadian rhythm. A clear separation in gene rhythms was identified: the morning-peaking transcripts were associated with regulation of gene expression and nucleic acid biology, which is vital for cell functioning, while evening-peaking transcripts were associated with redox activity and organic acid metabolism.
Lead author Dr. Jonathan Johnston at the University of Surrey said: "These rhythms, which are independent of external factors such as light and feeding, demonstrate that genes within fat cells naturally complete their functions at different times during the day which could impact on metabolic processes."
"This is the first time that we have been able to identify such rhythms in human fat. This provides us with more information about how human metabolism changes across the day and possibly why the body processes foods differently during day and night," Johnston told Asharq Al-Awsat via email.
In their next step, the researches will try to determine how these rhythms can be linked to obesity and diabetes. "It would also be interesting to test the function of these rhythms directly on the biology of fat cells," said Johnston.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
