Researchers have pointed to a link between weight gain and the consumption of certain snacks in winter

Scientists from the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) have discovered that fats in food can affect the body's perception of seasonal changes. Some foods, such as snacks high in saturated fat, can confuse the body's internal clock in winter and encourage it to accumulate more fat. This was reported by BBC Science Focus magazine on October 28.

"We found that the types of food you eat help your biological clock determine the time of year," said Dan Levin, lead author of the study and a researcher in neurology at UCSF.

According to the study, when consuming more saturated fats found in red meat, butter, cakes, pies and other buttery pastries, the PER2 protein tells the body that summer has arrived and a person should store more energy to prepare for the cold winter months. At the same time, if people eat more unsaturated fats found in nuts, seeds, fatty fish and vegetable oils, this protein makes the body believe that winter has come and a person should burn the consumed energy.

This is evidenced by the results of a study conducted in non-mouse models. They were exposed to periods of light and darkness in order to simulate the changing seasons. Thus, rodents received 12 hours of light per day during the imitation of spring and autumn, 20 hours of light during summer, and only four hours during the imitation of the winter season.

During the study, the researchers found that when mice were fed foods high in saturated fat, their biological clocks "shifted." Rodents that ate a balanced diet acted as expected for nocturnal creatures: they started running at nightfall. However, mice that ate a lot of saturated fats got up much later, indicating a malfunction of their internal time.

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"We believe that many of the findings we have obtained in the course of research on mice will be applicable to humans. It will be interesting to know if there are differences between the species, if any," Levin added.

Early studies have noted that seasonal changes are important for the survival of wild animals and primitive humans, as well as their ability to adapt to cold months when food supplies may have been limited. According to Levin, in nature, when the temperature and amount of sunlight change, it affects all organisms.

Scientists believe that the human body may be more programmed to perceive unsaturated fats, since it is these fats that prevail at a time of the year when the body must "prepare" for the cold. Nevertheless, in modern society, a person can consume foods with saturated fats all year round, and in this case, in autumn and winter, such foods can disrupt our biological clock.

Earlier, on October 28, Medical Xpress magazine reported on the effect of sweets on weight loss. According to the publication, the optimal strategy for weight loss may be to include the desired food in a balanced diet, rather than severely limiting it.

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