Many believe it’s easier to maintain healthy routines in the summer due to longer daylight, but recent research from the University of Copenhagen suggests that winter months may encourage healthier eating habits. The study reveals that daily natural light exposure affects eating and energy expenditure, with winter eating habits potentially promoting better metabolic health than those in summer.
Weight gain in humans during winter limited
The study exclusively focused on mice and investigated how exposure to winter and summer light affected their metabolism and weight.
Post-doctoral researcher at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research at the University of Copenhagen, Lewin Small, said that their study found that variations in daily light exposure, even in non-seasonal creatures, can lead to disparities in energy metabolism. The researcher asserts that these disparities manifest in factors such as adipose tissue, body weight, and hepatic fat content.
Small said that they observed the trends primarily in mice subjected to extended winter daylight hours. These mice exhibited reduced weight gain and decreased adiposity, displaying a more synchronized eating pattern throughout the 24-hour cycle. Consequently, these changes were associated with improvements in their metabolic well-being.
This groundbreaking project marked a pioneering effort in investigating the impact of the duration of light exposure on the metabolic processes of mice, a species that, much like humans, does not exhibit clear seasonal behavior patterns and is not limited to reproduction within specific times of the year. In contrast, animals that do engage in seasonal breeding tend to undergo weight gain in preparation for their breeding season as a means of conserving energy.
Seasonal light variations impact metabolism
The motivation for this research stemmed from the notable discrepancies in daylight duration observed in diverse global regions.
As a result, the team of researchers embarked on an investigation to discern the implications of these seasonal variances in light on metabolism. Although the primary subjects of this study were mice, the implications of the findings could potentially extend to humans in the future. A significant portion of the global population experiences a minimum of a two-hour disparity in light between summer and winter.
