Obesity and metabolic syndrome are also closely related disruption of our circadian rhythm

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Monday, December 13, 2010 12:24 pm Email this article
Disruption of our natural circadian rhythm, called chronodisruption, has been linked "with the increased risk of developing certain diseases and with an impairment of pre-existing pathologies: premature aging, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, cognitive impairment and mood disorders," notes a recent paper by researchers at the University of Murcia in Murcia, Spain.

"Obesity and metabolic syndrome are also closely related to [chronodisruption]" they also note. Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome

Disruptions in circadian rhythms increases risk of developing obesity and metabolic syndrome

“As will be discussed in forthcoming sections, a well-known effect of [chronodisruption] on human health is the development of obesity and [metabolic syndrome].

“Many epidemiological studies show that [chronodisruption] induced by shift work, sleep deprivation or by shifting the normal feeding time to night hours, is associated with high risk of developing obesity and many characteristics of metabolic syndrome.

“All the different metabolism-related activities of the circadian system, such as regulation of lipid and glucose metabolism, or insulin response, which are impaired by [chronodisruption], may contribute to the pathophysiology of obesity,” the authors continue.

“There is epidemiological evidence of a relationship between obesity and chronobiological aspects.

“One of the most interesting findings is that shift work is an independent risk factor in the development of obesity.

“Epidemiological studies show that shift work is associated with obesity, hypertriglyceridemia, low high- density lipoprotein, abdominal obesity, diabetes and cardio- vascular disease.

“Furthermore, increased glucose, insulin and triglyceride postprandial metabolic response is observed in shift workers with disrupted circadian rhythmicity of the melatonin profile.

REFERENCE

Garaulet M, Ordovas J, Madrid J. The chronobiology, etiology and pathophysiology of obesity. Int J Obes (Lond). 2010 Jun 22, published on-line.

AUTHOR’S CONTACT INFORMATION

Dr M Garaulet
Faculty of Biology, Department of Physiology
University of Murcia, Faculty of Biology
Campus of Espinardo
Murcia 30100, Spain
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