Does breakfast or dinner kickstart our circadian metabolic rhythms? New study to investigate

Which mealtime best synchronises metabolic rhythms in the body? A new study at the University of Surrey, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), is set to investigate.

In the first study of its kind, researchers led by Professor Jonathan Johnston are investigating which meal, breakfast or dinner, synchronises rhythms in the body.

Circadian rhythms are biological changes, including metabolic, that follow a 24-hour cycle and are usually synchronised to signals, such as light and dark cycles and meal timing. In addition, the team will also examine if being in a calorie deficit impacts kickstarting such rhythms.

This study builds on previous research from the team that shows how some human circadian rhythms, including blood glucose levels, are synchronised by meal timing and may anticipate regular large meals.

It is important that we find out the answers to these questions to help us design effective meal timing strategies to help the millions of people, particularly shift workers and those experiencing prolonged periods of jet lag, who have disrupted circadian rhythms.

Having a disrupted circadian rhythm is a very serious matter as it can lead to Type 2 diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease, putting an individual’s long-term health at risk. Professor Jonathan Johnston, Principal Investigator, Professor of Chronobiology and Integrative Physiology

Researchers will use state-of-the-art methods at the university to learn more, including its Surrey Clinical Research Facility and the Metabolomics Core Facility. The team will be the first to test their hypothesis that human metabolic circadian clocks will synchronise to the meal after the longest fasting period between food intakes. The results of this work should build upon existing knowledge of light and sleep timing to develop effective real-world strategies to benefit circadian alignment and long-term health. The second study will examine if melatonin rhythms (a key marker of our main internal clock), glucose rhythms and all circadian plasma metabolites will synchronise to meal timing when in a calorie deficit.