When you eat may make all the difference

When you eat, not what you eat may make all the difference for those who want to watch their weight, researchers in Israel say. Professor Oren Froy, Professor Zecharia Madar, research student Yoni Genzer and research fellow Dr. Hadas Sherman with the Institute of Biochemistry, Food Science and Nutrition at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem showed a carefully scheduled high-fat diet can lead to a reduction in body weight. For 18 weeks, the researchers fed a group of mice a high-fat diet on a fixed schedule -- eating at the same time and for the same length of time every day. They compared these mice to three control groups: one that ate a low-fat diet on a fixed schedule, one that ate an unscheduled low-fat diet and one that ate an unscheduled high-fat diet. All four groups of mice gained weight throughout the experiment, with a final body weight greatest in the group that ate an unscheduled high-fat diet. However, the study found that not only did the mice on the scheduled high-fat diet have a lower final body weight than the unscheduled high-fat diet group but they also weighed less than the mice on the unscheduled low-fat diet, even though both groups consumed the same amount of calories. The results were published in The FASEB Journal.