Nerves in the Stomach Responsible For the Amount of Food Consumed

Stomach has a network of important nerves that act as a biological clock and control food intake, claims a new study.

The researchers at the University of Adelaide for the first time have discovered the evidence of a circadian clock in the stomach. The nerves control the consumption of food based on the time of the day.  This research shows that nerves in stomach tell the brain when we are full and when to continue eating.

Dr. Stephen Kentish and colleagues looked at the sensitivity of the nerves during three hourly intervals in one day.

"These nerves are responsible for letting the brain know how much food we have eaten and when to stop eating," says Dr Kentish, who is the lead author of the paper. "What we've found is that the nerves in the gut are at their least sensitive at time periods associated with being awake. This means more food can be consumed before we feel full at times of high activity, when more energy is required."

Researchers used 8-week-old female mice and looked at the changes in their gene expression over a 24-hour period, Medical Daily reported.

Currently, researchers have found the mechanism only in mice. The study team said that the same variation could be present in the stomach of the human beings where the nerves are less responsive to fullness during day and highly sensitive during night.

This study could help understand how alterations in the circadian clocks distort the eating habits of the people.

"We know that shift workers, for example, are more prone to disruptions in sleep and eating behaviour, leading to obesity and other health problems. We are now conducting further research to see what kind of impact such changes to the circadian rhythm will have on eating behaviour, and how the nerves in the stomach react to those changes," Associate Professor Page concludes.

The study appears in the journal of Neuroscience.