Breakfast skipping induces massive rhythmic hypercholesterolemia by hepatic circadian clock and lipid metabolism abnormalities in rats fed a western diet

Jun 9, 2026Life sciences

Skipping breakfast causes large daily swings in blood cholesterol through liver clock and fat processing problems in rats on a western diet

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Abstract

Breakfast skipping combined with a Western diet in rats resulted in massive rhythmic hyper-remnant-like particle cholesterolemia.

Abnormal feeding timing through breakfast skipping is associated with delayed circadian rhythms of clock genes involved in lipid metabolism.
Changes in mRNA levels of cholesterol synthesis and degradation-related genes indicate altered lipid processing due to breakfast skipping.
Enhanced mRNA levels of adipose triglyceride lipase and lipoprotein lipase were observed in adipose tissue of breakfast-skipping rats.
These findings may help understand how disrupted feeding patterns influence lipid metabolism, although differences exist between rodents and humans.

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Feeding timing has recently been recognized as important for cardiometabolic health. However, it remains unknown how abnormal feeding timing influences lipid metabolism, which may be relevant to cardiovascular disease risk. Here, we investigated how breakfast skipping (BS) combined with a Western diet (WD), which is a typical unhealthy feeding behavior combination in humans, affects lipid metabolism in rats. Wistar male rats were fed a WD (sucrose 52%, casein 20%, lard 15%, corn oil 2%, and cholesterol 1%) during zeitgeber time (ZT) 12-0 in the control group and ZT16-4 in the BS group. This experiment was conducted for 14 days. The BS rats showed massive rhythmic hyper-remnant-like particle (RLP)-cholesterolemia. Circadian oscillations of almost clock genes and cholesterol synthesis-related sterol regulatory element-binding protein 2 and 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA synthase was delayed due to BS. The average mRNA level of cholesterol degradation-related genes, including sterol 12 α-hydroxylase and ATP binding cassette subfamily G member 5, was decreased in response to BS. In adipose tissue, circadian oscillation of clock genes was also delayed by BS, and the average mRNA level of adipose triglyceride lipase and lipoprotein lipase was enhanced. These data suggest that the combination of BS and WD is associated with massive rhythmic hypercholesterolemia, which may involve altered circadian oscillation of hepatic and adipose clock genes and changes in lipid metabolism. Although lipid metabolism differs between rodents and humans, particularly in lipoprotein profiles, these findings may provide insight into mechanisms linking feeding timing and altered lipid metabolism.

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Breakfast skipping induces massive rhythmic hypercholesterolemia by hepatic circadian clock and lipid metabolism abnormalities in rats fed a western diet

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