Scientists back circadian nutrition for muscle, energy and cognitive support

New research on circadian nutrition highlights the transformative potential of meal timing in alleviating fatigue. Nutrition Insight speaks to the study’s lead researcher, who underscores the role of circadian rhythm in muscle endurance and cognitive functions. 

The study in Science Bulletin reveals that time-restricted feeding, particularly night-restricted and day-restricted feeding, can enhance metabolic flexibility, restore muscle strength and reduce fatigue in rodent models. Time-restricted feeding creates an intermittent feed-fast cycle by restricting daily food intake to a particular window.

 Although promising as a lifestyle intervention, more research is necessary to translate these advantages to people, particularly through randomized clinical trials and customized approaches.

The journal publisher, Science China Press, underscores the importance of lifestyle interventions as clinical trials on metabolic diseases have found circadian nutrition is safe and adaptable.

Lipid metabolism in focus

Dr. Min-Dian Li, professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at Southwest Hospital, China, believes his study on mice may help people with chronic fatigue eat better, as he underscores: “Circadian clocks are critical for both mice and humans to adapt to the periodic changing environment.”

Night-restricted feeding and day-restricted feeding improve muscle endurance and cognitive performance in obesogenic diet-fed mice, regulating PPAR and Perilipin-5 activities (Image credit: Science China Press).“Mice and humans share the same set of circadian clock genes. Nevertheless, mice and humans are different in day/night activity patterns and have an almost seven-fold difference in metabolic rate. These limitations should be considered for translational medicine based on mouse studies.”

According to Li, the main difference between eating during the day and at night for enhancing muscle strength is lipid metabolism.

“Eating during the day (similar to the human Ramadan fast, though the duration has not been determined) stimulates the muscle’s lipid metabolism’s diurnal rhythms and primes the muscle fibers for using fatty acids as fuel in mice.”

The stimulation of the muscle’s lipid metabolism “driven by circadian nutrition does not increase muscle strength, but is beneficial for improving physical endurance in mice. For humans, eating at night may provide an edge for fighting against fatigue after extended working hours or shift work.”

Benefits and risks

The benefits of time-restricted eating for older people depend on how old and sick they are, says Li.

More research is necessary to translate these advantages to people.“Old people with fragility may benefit from unrestricted nutrition. Time-restricted eating requires randomized clinical trials to test its efficacy. Based on human evidence so far, old people with metabolic syndromes may benefit from a personalized form of time-restricted eating.”

He adds that risks for people with health problems like diabetes or heart issues are currently unclear. “A randomized clinical trial (NCT05800730) indicates that intermittent fasting inhibits human hair growth, and time-restricted eating belongs to intermittent fasting.”

To learn more about the effects of these eating habits, Li states that identifying the biometrics and biomarkers that signal the body’s internal clock and aligning these with a personalized time-restricted eating schedule could ideally resolve issues related to efficacy and safety.

“We propose this idea in an early paper. So far, controversies arise in the field, which I think can be partially solved through a detailed molecular understanding of how circadian clocks interact with metabolism.”

Prior research on the relationship between eating times and metabolism and circadian rhythm revealed that it has an impact on general health and well-being.

Other research from the University of Waterloo and the University of Oxford has developed a mathematical model to understand the resilience of the circadian master clock or suprachiasmatic nucleus in the brain.