Jet-lagged frequent flyers find it harder to shift excess weight, according to the results of laboratory tests.
Scientists claim to have discovered a strong circadian rhythm among organisms that live in the gut, which seems to become disrupted when people change time zones.
Scientists claim microbes in the gut can tell the time not from sunlight but from what we eat and they respond to our changing eating patterns and adjust their cycles to match meal times.
Tests, published in the journal Cell, found that when mice were put into different time zones, they ate more erratically, put on weight and developed metabolic problems associated with diabetes.
The scientists have developed a probiotic specially for travellers to help ‘maintain a balanced intestinal microflora for people on the move’.
