Regular meals matter: bone growth and beyond
Rhonda D. Kineman, Shoshana Yakar
Rhonda D. Kineman, Shoshana Yakar
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Commentary

Regular meals matter: bone growth and beyond

Abstract

The effect of food intake patterns on growth remain largely unknown. In this issue of the JCI, Hornsby et al. provide compelling evidence that, in young males, confining food intake to three meals a day entrains preprandial ghrelin release, leading to postprandial growth hormone pulse release that is associated with an increase in epiphysial plate expansion — a measure indicative of increased bone growth. The positive effects of discrete meal intake, on bone, was dependent on an intact ghrelin signaling system. This Commentary posits that meal-entrained ghrelin release may enhance skeletal accrual, whether through direct action on bone cells, via stimulation of growth hormone secretion, or in concert with other nutrient-responsive hormones. Coordinating these hormonal cues with food intake could maximize bone acquisition and improve bone health throughout the lifespan.

Authors

Rhonda D. Kineman, Shoshana Yakar

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Figure 1

The pattern of food intake affects bone growth.

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The pattern of food intake affects bone growth. (A) In male rats and hum...
(A) In male rats and human volunteers, food intake in a pattern of three meals a day entrained preprandial ghrelin release, leading to high-level pulses of postprandial GH. This pattern in rats resulted in epiphysial plate expansion, which is a hallmark of enhanced longitudinal growth. In contrast, a grazing pattern led to minimized ghrelin and GH rhythmicity and no changes in the epiphyseal plate width. (B) Meal-entrained ghrelin release may increase bone growth directly or indirectly via stimulation of GH secretion, or it could cooperate with other nutrient-responsive hormones to elongate bones. Whether pattern feeding induces endocrine rhythms that result in cyclic GH-dependent gene expression within chrondrocytes or other cells of the growth plate remains to be determined. GHR, GH receptor.