Whether you gain or lose weight not only depends on what foods you eat, but also when you eat them. Scientists from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies (USA) have shown thatmaintain regular meal times and intersperse periods of fastingIt can counteract the adverse effects of a high-fat diet and prevent obesity and diabetes, as well as keeping the liver healthier. Their conclusions are published in the magazineCell Metabolism.
In their experiments, Satchidananda Panda and her colleagues found that when mice on a high-fat diet are allowed to eat for only 8 hours a day, they eat as much food as those with 24-hour access to food, butthey do not develop obesity or metabolic diseases. Additionally, rodents with restricted feeding times showlower inflammation levels, and his liver was working better. “Each organ has a clock”, clarify the researchers, who assure that there are moments of maximum efficiency of our muscles, intestines, stomach …, as well as hours of the day in which they are practically at rest. These metabolic cycles of the body’s organs are crucial for the breakdown of cholesterol and glucose production, and should be taken into account when deciding when to eat.
According to Panda, there are reasons to think that our eating patterns have changed a lot in recent years, since people have access to food at any time, and the tendency to stay up late, even if it is only to watch television, is accompanied from the habit of “nibbling something.” To better understand theobesity epidemic, insists the researcher, it would be necessary to analyze not only what people eat but when they eat.
