Nutrition and Diet as Potent Regulators of the Liver Clock

This chapter centers on the new keyword "chrono-nutrition", which helps to understand the importance of mutual interactions between circadian rhythms and nutrition/diet. The timing of food can have a major impact on the circadian system. The "food entrainable oscillator" (FEO) senses food timing and/or nutritional factors, and then organizes the circadian system independent of suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) regulation. To understand the mechanism of FEO, many types of food have been used for food-induced phase entrainment in the circadian system. Food-induced insulin secretion is an important direct pathway for food entrainment in the liver circadian clock. The chapter also highlights the interactions between food, circadian system, and disease. Regular meal time has the possibility to improve the deficit of the circadian system, independent of the master clock function. Food can become a "zeitgeber" to entrain the circadian system and it is hoped that eating times function as a "zeitgeber" in humans.