Nutrition and Circadian Rhythms

A talk that really struck me as interesting was Dr. Daniel J. Cavanaugh’s talk on circadian rhythm circuits in Drosophila. It is fascinating that our brain has the ability to use the molecular clock to adapt to our environment, and therefore, change our rest:activity cycles. This adaptation exhibits the brain’s plasticity and shows how adaptive our bodies can be. However, the breakdown of these circadian rhythm pathways can lead to altered sleep-wake cycles and the development of age-related disease. Recently, many experiments are being done in order to try understanding the pathways of these circadian rhythms and how they affect humans and lead to disease.

An article in Medical Daily talks about recent findings connecting circadian rhythms to nutrition. Researchers have discovered that circadian clocks in mice slow down due to the decrease of polyamines in their bodies over time. The researchers treated mice that had low levels of polyamines in their bodies and slower circadian cycles with spermidine, which is an edible form of polyamines. These mice that were fed spermidine showed improvement due to a subsequent increase in their circadian cycles. With continuously treatment of spermidine, the mice were able to revert their circadian cycles back to normal. 

This spermidine is found in common foods such as soybeans, corn, green peas, and bleu cheese. Although human trials have not been done yet, if spermidine has similar effects in humans, this would be a huge revelation in age-related diseases like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and cancer, due to the vast availability of these foods. Not only do the findings in mice give us information on circadian rhythms, they also suggest that metabolism is connected to our circadian clocks. The idea that our circadian clocks can be turned back just by incorporating something into our diet is extremely exciting. Although spermidine may not cure these age-related diseases, it might be able to slow them down or decrease the severity of the disease if the human trials are shown to work.

Cavanaugh, Daniel J., Jill D. Geratowski, Julian R.a. Wooltorton, Jennifer M. Spaethling, Clare E. Hector, Xiangzhong Zheng, Erik C. Johnson, James H. Eberwine, and Amita Sehgal. "Identification of a Circadian Output Circuit for Rest:Activity Rhythms in Drosophila." Cell 157.3 (2014): 689-701. Web.

Olson, Samantha. "Foods That Stop Circadian Rhythm From Slowing Down May Lead To Dietary Supplements That Treat Age-Related Diseases And Increase Lifespan." Medical Daily. N.p., 8 Oct. 2015. Web. <http://www.medicaldaily.com/foods-stop-circadian-rhythm-slowing-down-may-lead-dietary-supplements-treat-age-356440>.