Too much fat messes up mouse sleep and stress hormones
High fat diet induces obesity, alters eating pattern and disrupts corticosterone circadian rhythms in female ICR mice
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
The stress hormone peak flipped from daytime to nighttime—exactly opposite of normal.
Everyone assumes stress hormones peak in the morning to prepare for the day. This study shows a high-fat diet doesn’t just blunt the rhythm—it inverts it, like flipping a light switch.
Practical Takeaways
Avoid high-fat meals late at night—your body’s stress rhythm depends on eating during daylight hours.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
The stress hormone peak flipped from daytime to nighttime—exactly opposite of normal.
Everyone assumes stress hormones peak in the morning to prepare for the day. This study shows a high-fat diet doesn’t just blunt the rhythm—it inverts it, like flipping a light switch.
Practical Takeaways
Avoid high-fat meals late at night—your body’s stress rhythm depends on eating during daylight hours.
Publication
Journal
PLOS ONE
Year
2023
Authors
K. Teeple, Prabha Rajput, Maria Gonzalez, Yu Han-Hallett, E. Fernández‐Juricic, T. Casey
Related Content
Claims (10)
Cortisol secretion follows a circadian rhythm entrained primarily by environmental light exposure, with secondary modulation by feeding timing and psychological stress.
Mice eating a fatty diet have more of the stress hormone in their fur, suggesting their bodies are under more prolonged stress over time.
The time of day when the stress hormone peaks shifts from daytime to nighttime in mice eating a high-fat diet, which is the opposite of what normally happens.
Even though the mice on the fatty diet got heavier, the increase in stress hormone in their fur wasn’t linked to how fat they became—it seems the diet itself caused the change.
Even if they eat the same amount of food by weight, mice on a fatty diet take in way more calories because fat has more energy than other nutrients.