High-fat diet acutely affects circadian organisation and eating behavior

The organisation of timing in mammalian circadian clocks optimally coordinates behavior and physiology with daily environmental cycles. Chronic consumption of a high-fat diet alters circadian rhythms, but the acute effects on circadian organisation are unknown. To investigate the proximate effects of a high-fat diet on circadian physiology, we examined the phase relationship between central and peripheral clocks in mice fed a high-fat diet for 1 week. By 7 days, the phase of the liver rhythm was markedly advanced (by 5 h), whereas rhythms in other tissues were not affected. In addition, immediately upon consumption of a high-fat diet, the daily rhythm of eating behavior was altered. As the tissue rhythm of the suprachiasmatic nucleus was not affected by 1 week of high-fat diet consumption, the brain nuclei mediating the effect of a high-fat diet on eating behavior are likely to be downstream of the suprachiasmatic nucleus.