Eating On A Schedule And Weight Gain

[FONT=&quot]Weightgain may caused in part by eating on an odd eating schedule, rather than onlyby eating too many calories, a new study in mice suggests.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Micein the study that were fed a high-fat diet and allowed to eat whenever theywanted to, not surprisingly, gained weight.In contrast, mice that had their feeding restricted to eight hours a day wereprotected against obesity,despite the fact that they consumed just as many calories as the unrestrictedmice.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Thefindings suggest that restricting meal times might be an underappreciated wayto help people keep off the pounds, the researchers said.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]"Everyorgan has a clock," said study researcher Satchidananda Panda, of the SalkInstitute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, Calif. That means there are timesthat our livers, intestines, muscles and other organs work at peak efficiency,and other times when they are — more or less — sleeping, Panda said.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Thesemetabolic cycles are critical for processes such as cholesterol breakdown, andthey should be turned on when we eat and turned off when we don't, Panda said.When mice or people eat frequently throughout the day and night, it can throwoff those normal metabolic cycles, he added.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Overthe 18-week study, the time-restricted mice were protected from the adverseeffects of their high-fat diet, and showed improvements in their metabolismcompared with the unrestricted mice. They gained 28 percent less weight thanunrestricted mice and suffered less liver damage.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Furtherwork is needed to show the same thing happens in people, the researchers said.More studies should collect information on when people eat, and not just whatthey eat, Panda said.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Pandasaid there is reason to think our eating patterns have changed in recent years,as many people have greater access to food and stay up late into the night,even if just to watch TV.And when people are awake, they tend to snack, Panda said.

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