It’s When You Eat, Not Just What You Eat

Ok, the first thing you should know is that the research was done with fruit flies, not people, although earlier research has shown that people who eat later in the day are more likely to suffer from heart disease. Science Daily reports that researchers at the Broad Institute have found that when the feeding schedule of fruit flies is limited to 12 hours a day, flies sleep better, don’t gain as much weight and have far healthier hearts than their “eat anytime” counterparts, even though they eat the same amount of food. Wait, there’s more: other experiments revealed that the benefits of a time-restricted diet weren’t exclusive to young flies. When the researchers introduced these dietary time restrictions to older flies, their hearts became healthier, too. Science Daily reports that when the scientists sequenced the RNA of the flies at various points in the experiment to find which of their genes had changed as a result of time-restricted feeding, they found identified three genetic pathways that appear to be involved: the TCP-1 ring complex chaperonin, which helps proteins fold; mitochondrial electron transport chain complexes (mETC); and a suite of genes responsible for the body’s circadian rhythm. They then repeated their experiments using mutant strains of flies with nonfunctional versions of the TCP-1 and circadian rhythm genes, and found—the envelope please… that time-restricted feeding granted no health benefits, suggesting that genetic pathways play key roles in the health of the flies. One more thing: researchers in the same Broad Institute lab have previously found benefits of time-restricted feeding for obesity, metabolic diseases and type-2 diabetes in rodents.