# Mechanisms by which time-restricted feeding (TRF) delays the onset of age-related declines in health, cognition, and circadian rhythms

> **NIH NIH R01** · UTAH STATE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM--UNIVERSITY OF UTAH · 2021 · $381,250

## Abstract

Project Summary
As the world's population ages, improving the health and well being of elderly adults has become a social and
economic imperative. Decreased function of the circadian clock is at the crossroad of aging, dysmetabolism
and chronic diseases. Time-restricted feeding (TRF) is a new dietary intervention that recommends daily
caloric intake to be limited in time independently of caloric content. TRF can preserve clock oscillations in
metabolic organs and can prevent and reverse metabolic disease in young mice fed a high fat diet. This
proposal combines extensive health and cognitive assessments throughout lifespan with sophisticated tissue-
specific genome-wide transcriptome analysis of mice under TRF and caloric restriction (CR) to understand how
dietary interventions can support circadian clock function and promote healthy aging. Aim 1 focuses on the
health effects of TRF compared to ad libitum feeding (ALF) and CR. Middle-aged mice raised on a western-diet
will be placed on ALF or TRF or CR. Periodic assessments of wide-ranging health parameters, behavioral and
cognitive functions and maximum lifespan will test the hypothesis that TRF can delay the onset of diet- and
age-related decline and increase longevity. Aim 2 focuses on the effect of the different dietary interventions on
the function of the circadian clock. In the same animal cohort, periodic assessments of physiological outputs of
the circadian clock coupled to tissue-specific genome-wide characterization of the diurnal transcriptome will
test the hypothesis that TRF can sustain circadian clock function across lifespan. These studies will provide an
in depth characterization of the effects of dietary interventions such as TRF and CR on age-related health,
cognitive and circadian rhythms decline. Together, the integrative study proposed here will lead to a more
fundamental understanding of how the timing of food consumption impacts circadian rhythmicity in gene
transcription and function and how this affects healthspan and longevity. Such findings are important to test
and develop new circadian-based therapies to extend health and lifespan.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10393274
- **Project number:** 7R01AG065993-03
- **Recipient organization:** UTAH STATE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM--UNIVERSITY OF UTAH
- **Principal Investigator:** Amandine H. Chaix
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $381,250
- **Award type:** 7
- **Project period:** 2019-09-15 → 2024-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10393274

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10393274, Mechanisms by which time-restricted feeding (TRF) delays the onset of age-related declines in health, cognition, and circadian rhythms (7R01AG065993-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10393274. Licensed CC0.

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