High-fat diets may disrupt the body's natural daily rhythms, leading to hormone imbalances, obesity, sleep disorders, and cancer, according to a new animal study performed at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Dr. Oren Froy and his team fed mice low- or high-fat diets, with every other day as a fasting day. The mice on the high-fat diets experienced disruptions in their sleep/wake cycles and other 24-hour systems associated with metabolism.

Dr. Froy believes that that a high-fat diet not only puts a person at risk for overweight because it is high in calories, but also because it interrupts "natural circadian rhythmicity."

This study appears in the journal Endocrinology.

Labels: nutrition, sleep, diet

Posted By: Aspen Education Group