Eating Rewards the Gears of the Clock

Abstract

Eating behavior is regulated by metabolic and hedonic brain networks, which interact with each other to balance the physiological regulation of hunger and satiety. The daily balance of this regulation is controlled by the central circadian clock. Importantly, metabolic and reward properties of food impact the functioning of circadian clocks, altering the oscillatory activity of the molecular clockwork and circadian rhythms. However, when feeding (metabolic or reward) is timed, the whole circadian system is entrained. Furthermore, besides synchronizing the clock, the timing of both metabolic and reward eating might be crucial for health, to improve circadian physiology, as well as to treat metabolic (e.g., diabetes, obesity) and neurological diseases (e.g., mental, neurodegenerative).

Keywords: circadian; clock genes; eating; hedonic; metabolic; suprachiasmatic.