In addition to sleep and tiredness, the Jet LAG or time mismatch could cause obesity.The cause would be that the alteration of sleep-vigilia patterns interrupts the daily rhythms of intestinal microbes.
According to an investigation that is published in "Cell" all organisms, from bacteria to human beings, have circadian watches to help them synchronize their biological activities at the time of day.Now, this work reveals that the microorganisms of the intestine of mice, and also those of human beings, have circadian rhythms that are controlled by the biological clock of the host in which they reside.In this way, the alteration of the circadian clock of the guest alters the rhythms and composition of the microbial community, which leads to obesity and metabolic problems.
The authors of this work believe that these data could justify a reality: "People with cycles of day and night chronically disturbed due to the repetitive schedule or shift work have a tendency to develop obesity and other metabolic complications," says the principal authorof the study, were Elinav, of the Weizmann Institute of Sciences (USA).In their opinion, these surprising findings "can allow us to design preventive treatments for these people with the aim of reducing the risk of these complications."
work in shifts
The alteration of the circadian clock in humans is a characteristic of relatively recent lifestyle changes that involve work in turn or frequent flights through time areas.These generalized behavior patterns have long been related to a wide range of diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, cancer or cardiovascular disease.But, until now, it was not clear how changes in circadian rhythms increased the risk of these diseases.
In the new study, Elinav and his team have proposed to determine whether intestinal bacteria could be this ‘lost link’.That is why they analyzed the microorganism present in samples of mice and human beings at different times of the day, and thus discovered rhythmic fluctuations in the abundance of microbes and their biological activities.
Light-darkness
Then they altered the light-dark cycles of the animals and saw that when the mice modified their circadian rhythm, and their eating habits, the microbial community lost its rhythmic fluctuations and changed composition.In addition, they observed that the administration of a high -fat diet caused weight gain and made to develop metabolic problems associated with diabetes.Similarly, the Jet Lag in two human beings who had traveled from the US to Israel changed the composition of their intestine microoganisms, favoring the growth of bacteria that have been related to obesity and metabolic disease.
"Our results highlight a new therapeutic target, which can be exploited in future studies, to normalize the microbiota in those people whose lifestyle implies frequent alterations in sleep patterns, such as workers in turn and frequent travelers,"ELINAV points out, who considers that a prevention of harmful changes in microbiota in these human populations through probiotic or antimicrobial treatments can reduce or even avoid the risk of obesity and their complications.