You have lunch at about midday and dinner in the evening – which might simply be habit but is more likely to be because the body requires more energy at certain times of day.

    This indicated to scientists that there must be a link between human metabolism and the circadian clock, the internal mechanism that keeps track of time and regulates the body accordingly. 

    The connection proved elusive, however.

    This week researchers at the University of California, Irvine, claim to have solved the mystery. 

    The missing link is a protein called SIRT1 that is already known to have life-extending properties. Red wine, which in moderation is thought to enhance health, contains the chemical resveratrol, which boosts production of SIRT1. 

    One implication of the research is that faults in the SIRT1 mechanism might influence behaviour, including the overeating that leads to obesity. According to team leader Paolo Sassone-Corsi, it might be possible in future to treat some metabolic disorders by manipulating the mechanism. 

    我們大約在正午時分吃午飯，在晚上吃晚飯——這可能只是一種習慣，但更有可能是因為身體在一天的特定時間需要更多的能量。

    這就提醒科學家，人體的新陳代謝與生物鐘之間一定存在某種聯系，一種感知時間并據此調節身體的內部機能。

    然而，這種聯系很難弄清楚。

    本周，加州大學歐文分校(University of California, Irvine)的研究人員宣稱已揭開此謎。

    這一環就是被稱為SIRT1的蛋白質，人們已知它具有延長壽命的功能。人們認為，適當飲用紅酒可促進健康，而紅酒中就含有加速SIRT1生成的化合物白藜蘆醇。

    此項研究的一個推論就是，SIRT1機能出現問題可能會影響人類的行為習慣，包括導致肥胖的過度飲食行為。據研究小組負責人Paolo Sassone-Corsi表示，未來有可能會通過調控該機能來治療一些新陳代謝紊亂。