High-fat foods can interfere with biological clock Diets high in fat can throw off the body's internal clock, a new study by researchers at Northwestern University has found. The study, published in Cell Metabolism, found that mice fed a fatty diet for two weeks showed significant behavioural changes. Their sleep/wake cycle lengthened suggesting the brain mechanism that controls the timing of activity and rest had been affected.
When kept in 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness the mice – which are nocturnal – began consuming more food when the lights were on as early as the first week. They also displayed altered activity in key genes that control the roughly 24-hour circadian rhythm.