Time-restricted feeding can reshape gene expression: Research | Health

Intermittent fasting has become a hot topic in the wellness industry, as numerous laboratory studies have shown the health benefits of time-restricted diets, including extending lifespan.

However, how this affects the body at the molecular level and how these changes interact in multiple organ systems has not been well understood. Now, Salk scientists are showing in mice how time-restricted feeding influences gene expression in more than 22 regions around the world. body and brain. Gene expression is the process by which genes are activated and respond to their environment by creating proteins.

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The findings, published in Cell Metabolism on January 3, 2023, have implications for a wide range of health conditions where time-restricted eating has shown potential benefits, including diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and cancer.

“We found that there is a system-wide molecular impact on time-restricted feeding in mice,” says lead author and Rita and Richard Atkinson Professor Satchidananda Panda at Salk. “Our findings open the door to further examining how this nutritional intervention activates genes implicated in specific diseases, such as cancer.”

For the study, two groups of mice were fed the same high-calorie diet. One group had free access to food. The other group was restricted to eating within a nine hour daily eating window.

After seven weeks, tissue samples were taken from 22 organ groups and the brain at different times of the day or night and analyzed for genetic changes. The samples included tissues from the liver, stomach, lungs, heart, adrenal gland, hypothalamus, different parts of the kidney and intestine, and different areas of the brain.

The authors found that 70% of mouse genes respond to time-restricted feeding.

“By altering the timing of food, we were able to alter gene expression not only in the gut or liver, but also in thousands of genes in the brain,” Panda says.

Nearly 40% of genes in the adrenal gland, hypothalamus and pancreas were affected by time-restricted eating. These organs are important for hormonal regulation. Hormones coordinate functions in different parts of the body and brain, and hormonal imbalance has been implicated in many diseases, from diabetes to stress disorders. The findings offer insights into how time-restricted eating can help manage these conditions.

Interestingly, not all sections of the digestive tract were affected equally. While the genes involved in the two upper parts of the small intestine – the duodenum and the jejunum – were activated by time-restricted feeding, the ileum, at the lower end of the small intestine, did not. was not.

This discovery could open a new avenue of research to study how shift jobs, which disrupt our 24-hour biological clock (called circadian rhythm) impact digestive diseases and cancers. Previous research by Panda’s team showed that time-restricted feeding improved the health of firefighters, who are typically mobile workers.

The researchers also found that time-restricted eating aligned the circadian rhythms of several organs in the body.

“Circadian rhythms are everywhere in every cell,” says Panda. “We found that time-restricted eating synchronized circadian rhythms to have two main waves: one during fasting and another right after eating. We suspect this allows the body to coordinate different processes.”

Next, Panda’s team will take a closer look at the effects of the time-restricted diet on specific conditions or systems involved in the study, such as atherosclerosis, which is a hardening of the arteries that is often a precursor to heart disease and stroke, as well as chronic kidney disease.

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