Finding balance: understanding the energetics of time‐restricted feeding in mice

Abstract

Over the course of mammalian evolution, the ability to store energy likely conferred a survival advantage when food became scarce. A long-term increase in energy storage results from an imbalance between energy intake and energy expenditure, two tightly regulated parameters that generally balance out to maintain a fairly stable body weight. Understanding the molecular determinants of this feat likely holds the key to new therapeutic development to manage obesity and associated metabolic dysfunctions. Time-restricted feeding (TRF), a dietary intervention that limits feeding to the active phase, can prevent and treat obesity and metabolic dysfunction in rodents fed a high-fat diet, likely by exerting effects on energetic balance. Even when body weight is lower in mice on active-phase TRF, food intake is generally isocaloric as compared with ad libitum fed controls. This discrepancy between body weight and energy intake led to the hypothesis that energy expenditure is increased during TRF. However, at present, there is no consensus in the literature as to how TRF affects energy expenditure and energy balance as a whole, and the mechanisms behind metabolic adaptation under TRF are unknown. This review examines our current understanding of energy balance on TRF in rodents and provides a framework for future studies to evaluate the energetics of TRF and its molecular determinants.

Time-restricted feeding prevents memory impairments induced by obesogenic diet consumption in mice, in part through hippocampal thyroid hormone signaling

“…1). These effects of TRF on metabolism, especially the cri6cal role on energy expenditure, have been observed in other studies [23,36] but not always [26,38]. These discrepancies may be due to varying diet composi6on, dura6on and age of exposure onset to the HFS diet and also by different schedule and length of TRF across studies.…”

“…Increased energy expenditure seems responsible for the reduced fat mass gain in HFS TRF mice compared to HFS ad lib mice since locomotor activity was found unchanged and total food intake was not reduced by TRF in HFS mice (Fig.1). These effects of TRF on metabolism, especially the critical role on energy expenditure, have been observed in other studies [23,36] but not always [26,38]. These discrepancies may be due to varying diet composition, duration and age of exposure onset to the HFS diet and also by different schedule and length of TRF across studies.…”

Testing the evolutionary drivers of malaria parasite rhythms and their consequences for host–parasite interactions

“…3 h; Froy et al., 2006 ), suggesting that the duration of the feeding window is the key difference between these groups. Furthermore, TRF has broad metabolic impacts, including altering nutrient absorption and temporal expression patterns of various metabolic genes compared to ad libitum fed mice (Gallop et al., 2023 ), suggesting parasites experience significantly different conditions in WT‐AL hosts. Spreading out foraging benefited hosts too, ameliorating weight loss despite higher parasite densities.…”

Effects of Leptin and Body Weight on Inflammation and Knee Osteoarthritis Phenotypes in Female Rats

“…Although limiting the amount and duration of food availability is often associated with improved metabolic outcomes, we fed obese Zucker rats once during the natural resting period to blunt these metabolic benefits. ( 61 ) Whether or not this disruption in peripheral circadian patterns contributed to the observed pathology is not known. However, based on the site‐specific and focal nature of the cartilage lesions extending to the tidemark, we suspect that the OA pathology observed in obese Zucker rats may be due to altered biomechanical stress in the knee joint.…”