Editorial: Undetermined implications of chrono nutrition: A missing curriculum in medicine

Abstract

Chronobiology (a.k.a. circadian biology) studies the rhythmicity of physiological processes throughout a 24-h cycle in any living organism. The body’s timekeeping system is composed of a central (suprachiasmatic nucleus) clock and many peripheral (organ-specific) clocks, responsible for aligning body functions to timing photic (light/darkness) cues and non-photic (food intake) external cues called zeitgebers. Even though chronobiology dates back to the Hippocratic era, its recognition as a scientific biomedical discipline began recently with the pioneering work conducted by Jeffrey Hall, Michael Rosbash, and Michael Young on the molecular mechanisms that govern circadian rhythmicity, research that earned them the Nobel Prize in 2017. It is noteworthy that the circadian rhythm is controlled by transcriptional–translational feedback loops of clock genes and proteins that further interact with a well-orchestrated neuroendocrine system, connecting both central and peripheral clocks.