The work schedule of professionals such as nurses, firefighters and flight assistants, among others, is distinguished by presenting drastic changes in their calendar, which invariably generates an alteration of their circadian rhythms.A study by a team of researchers from the University of Texas A & AMP; M (Tamu), found that the alterations caused by shift schedules, accentuate the negative effects of a fat -rich diet, contributing to obesity and diabetes.
Scientists know that circadian watches located in tissues and peripheral cells throughout the body, regulate the daily rhythms that provide the temporal organization of many local physiological processes, including inflammation and metabolism.
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Using genetic models based on the mutation or the elimination of the central clock genes, the researchers found that the global and specific alteration of the circadian function produces obesity and diabetes, in addition to other signs of metabolic deregulation.
Having this present information, the researchers considered determining whether circadian deincronization in response to shift work schedules is sufficient to compromise metabolic homeostasis.
To achieve this, they conducted experiments in mice fed with a high-fat diet, which were exposed to chronic changes of the light-dark cycle, specifically 12 hours of progress every 5 days, for 10 weeks, which allowed specialists to examine theEffect of environmental alteration on circadian rhythms.
The authors of the study found that the alteration of internal watches exacerbates inflammatory responses that lead to the development of metabolic diseases, including obesity and diabetes.
But that's not all;While schedule changes alter circadian rhythms, which triggers a cascade of effects, the problem can be aggravated by the selection of food.Fatty foods can cause the clock to be delayed beyond normal time, imposing inopportune cycles in many body processes, accentuating the negative effect.
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In this regard, Dr. David Earnest, PHD, a professor at the Department of Experimental Neuroscience and Therapeutics of the Faculty of Medicine of Tamu, said:
It has been difficult to differentiate cause and effect in this situation, because when sleep is interrupted, eating habits are also altered.However, using animal models, we could demonstrate that they were really the alterations of the biological clock that caused these effects.
These results suggest possible ways to reduce these effects and help workers in turn to avoid some of the metabolic sequelae that their work schedules can produce.
