title: Circadian clocks, feeding time, and metabolic homeostasis.
abstract: Metabolic processes exhibit diurnal variation from cyanobacteria to humans. The circadian clock is thought to have evolved as a time keeping system for the cell to optimize the timing of metabolic events according to physiological needs and environmental conditions. Circadian rhythms temporally separate incompatible cellular processes and optimize cellular and organismal fitness. A modern 24 h lifestyle can run at odds with the circadian rhythm dictated by our molecular clocks and create desynchrony between internal and external timing. It has been suggested that this desynchrony compromises metabolic homeostasis and may promote the development of obesity (Morris et al., 2012). Here we review the evidence supporting the association between circadian misalignment and metabolic homeostasis and discuss the role of feeding time.
authors.affiliation: Department of Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics, Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics, University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Georgios K
authors.initials: GK
authors.lastname: Paschos
keywords: circadian clock; circadian misalignment; circadian rhythms; feeding time; metabolic homeostasis