How Intermittent Fasting Increases Life Expectancy - Eating on a Timer Alters Gene Expression Throughout the Body

How Intermittent Fasting Increases Life Expectancy Eating on a timer changes gene expression throughout the body

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According to the Salk researchers, the timing of caloric intake synchronizes circadian cycles across different systems in mice. In lab tests, several studies have shown that time-restricted feeding has health benefits, including an increase in lifespan. As a result, strategies such as intermittent fasting have become popular in the wellness field. However, it is unclear how they affect the organism at the molecular level and how these changes interact across many organ systems. Now, Salk researchers have shown in mice how time-restricted feeding affects gene expression in more than 22 different regions of the body and brain. Gene expression is the process by which genes are activated and respond to their surroundings by producing proteins.

The findings, which will be published in Cell Metabolism on January 3, 2023, have implications for a wide range of health disorders, including diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and cancer. Panda Satchidananda Panda Satchidananda. Credits to the Salk Institute for this image.
"We discovered that time-restricted feeding has a system-wide biochemical effect on mice," says Professor Satchidananda Panda, senior author and chair of RITA, and Richard Atkinson at Salk. "Our findings pave the way for further investigation of how this dietary intervention activates genes associated with certain disorders, such as cancer." milk 

Two groups of rats were fed an identical high-calorie diet during the research. One group was allowed free access to food. The other group was only allowed to eat for nine hours each day. Seven weeks later, tissue samples from 22 groups of organs and the brain were obtained at different times of the day and night and evaluated for genetic changes. Tissues were taken from the liver, stomach, lungs, heart, adrenal gland, hypothalamus, different regions of the kidneys, intestines, and different regions of brain. The researchers discovered that 70% of the mice's genes respond to time-restricted feeding. "By modifying when we eat, we've been able to influence gene expression not only in the stomach but also in the brain." "Not only for but also for thousands of genes in the brain," Panda explains.
Time-restricted feeding altered more than 40% of genes in the adrenal gland, brain, and pancreas. These organs play an important role in controlling hormones. Hormones coordinate processes in different parts of the body and brain, and hormonal imbalance is linked to a variety of diseases ranging from diabetes to stress disorders. The findings suggest that time-restricted eating may help manage some disorders.

Surprisingly, not all parts of the digestive system were affected similarly. Whereas genes activating time-restricted feeding in the upper two parts of the small intestine — the duodenum and jejunum — did not. This finding may pave the way for further research into how shift functions, which perturb our 24-hour biological clock (called the circadian rhythm), affect gastrointestinal diseases and tumors. Panda's previous research found that time-restricted eating benefited the health of firefighters, who often work shifts.
Researchers have also discovered that time-restricted feeding synchronizes the daily cycles of many organs in the body. "Circadian rhythms are in every cell," Panda explains."We discovered that time-restricted feeding syncs up with the circadian rhythm so that it has two important waves: one during fasting and one shortly after eating. We think this allows the body to coordinate many activities."
Panda's team will then examine the effect of time-restricted eating on specific diseases or systems included in the study, such as atherosclerosis, the hardening of the arteries that is often a harbinger of heart disease and stroke, as well as chronic kidney disease.