Gorging on fatty snacks this winter could be tricking your body into gaining weight.
Experts had believed humans and other mammals take their cues on how much to eat solely based on the length of a day but new research shows it may have as much, or more, to do with the kinds of fat in our diet.
Snacks packed with unhealthy saturated fat could leave you craving more high-calorie foods thanks to your circadian rhythm: the body’s internal clock that regulates when you wake up, go to sleep and affects hormones and body temperature.
In both humans and bears, the fats signal the approach of summer, when fish, berries and nuts are plentiful and bulking up is crucial to survive winter hibernation.
“It makes a lot of sense that both nutrition and the length of the day would guide seasonal behavior,” Dr. Louis Ptacek, a professor of neurology at the University of California at San Francisco, said.
“If it’s fall and there are still plenty of nuts and berries to eat, the bear might as well keep eating rather than settle in for winter sleep, even while it senses that the days are getting shorter.”
By sneaking an extra cookie or Cheeto, you could be telling your body the same thing.
“That one holiday cookie could turn into two cookies the next day, because you’ve now tricked your circadian clock into thinking it’s summer,” postdoctoral scholar Dan Levine explained.
The researchers discovered that saturated fat, commonly found in meats, desserts and processed foods, affects the behavior of a protein found in all mammals that is a crucial component of fat metabolism and the processes driving circadian rhythms.
The protein, called PER2, either tells the body to burn saturated fat or store it based on the season.
To reach these conclusions, an unlisted number of mice in the study were exposed to light conditions similar to the seasons over a couple of weeks, with 12 hours of light a day to simulate fall, 20 hours for summer and 20 hours of dark for winter.
Mice that ate a diet not too high in fat or calories easily adapted to seasonal changes, but those that ate a high-fat diet were sluggish and not as active.
Comparing a diet higher in unsaturated fats, like those found in seeds and nuts, the researchers found mice eating more saturated fat did not adjust well to the “winter” conditions.
“These types of fats seem to prevent mice from being able to sense the early nights of winter,” said Levine. “It begs the question of whether the same thing is happening for people snacking on processed food.”
Ultraprocessed foods make up around half of Americans’ diet, and diets high in those products have been tied to majorly negative health outcomes, such as heart disease, cancer and even premature death.
A lot of those snacks are designed to make you want more, according to experts at Stanford Medicine.
“They formulate the taste of the food to what is known as the ‘bliss point’” — or the right mixture of sugar, salt and fat to maximize flavor and texture, encouraging your cravings, Dalia Perelman, a research dietitian with the Stanford Prevention Research Center, explained.
“When you hear a commercial about how you can’t eat just one, they mean it. You know those ranch-flavored chips? They definitely trigger some of those neurotransmitters that are making you, like, ‘Oh, my God, this is delicious.’”
Taking those factors and this new research into account could help guide a healthier lifestyle, the San Francisco researchers added.
Americans should aim for less than 20 grams of saturated fat a day, according to federal health guidelines. Relying less on fatty treats, especially in the winter, could fix disruptions to our body’s clock.
“Correcting these imbalances could improve sleep and energy levels, prevent chronic disease and help shift workers and people with jet lag,” they said.
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