Research

Energy balance

PPARα activation suppresses the liver secretome (including complement and coagulation factors) to conserve energy during fasting, whereas FXR activation induces secretion to support nutrient processing in the fed state.

Your liver actively manages energy by adjusting how much protein it secretes based on whether you are eating or fasting. In the fed state, it produces more proteins (like clotting factors and complement) to support nutrient processing. In the fasted state, it reduces this production to save energy. This suggests that nutritional strategies, particularly for those with metabolic issues or undernutrition, should consider the timing of nutrient intake to align with these natural hormonal switches (PPARα for fasting, FXR for feeding).

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
we suggest that FXR licenses the process of secretion in the nutrient-rich fed state while PPARα spares resources by repressing it in the fasted state.
Geoffrey A. Preidis et al. · Journal of Clinical Investigation · 2017

Why this rating

Supported by multiple lines of evidence including genetic knockout mice, human patient cases (FXR deficiency), and pharmacological agonist studies.

Source

Nutrient-sensing nuclear receptors PPARα and FXR control liver energy balance

Geoffrey A. Preidis et al. · Journal of Clinical Investigation · 2017

DOI 10.1172/jci88893

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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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