The study was published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicineexamined how following a time-restricted diet, a form of intermittent fasting, may affect people with metabolic syndrome, helping them lose weight and control blood sugar.
Weight loss effects from intermittent fasting
Researchers asked participants to engage in time-restricted eating. That means you only ate 8 to 10 hours a day, which is when your body is best prepared for digestion. Time-restricted eating does not emphasize calorie reduction.
They found that participants who shortened their eating window had significantly improved glycemic control and reduced body weight and fat when combined with standard nutritional counseling.
The results showed that time-restricted eating only “slightly” improved glycemic control and may not be clinically meaningful for individuals, said Christopher Gardner, Ph.D., director of nutrition research at the Stanford Prevention Research Center.
But he said it would make a significant difference to public health if people improved their glucose control in light of these findings.
The authors study circadian rhythms, appetite and other important functions.
The idea behind time-restricted eating is that people should time their meals around times when their body’s metabolism is most active.
“Time-restricted eating is different from other fasting methods,” said Emily Manoogian, Ph.D., a panda lab scientist at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and senior author of the study.
To further study time-restricted eating, researchers recruited one volunteer with metabolic syndrome, who was at risk for diabetes due to high blood sugar or hemoglobin A1C (HbA122C) levels.
Participants were randomly divided into two groups. Half received standard nutritional counseling, and the other half received nutritional counseling along with a customized 8- to 10-hour time-restricted eating plan. The schedule began at least 1 hour after the participant woke up and ended at least 3 hours before going to bed.
At the end of 108 months, 0,1 people had completed the study. Results showed that time-restricted eating was associated with an additional 10% reduction in HbA1C. This indicates a slight decrease in average blood sugar levels.
This approach was not associated with improvements in other metabolic parameters such as fasting blood sugar, fasting insulin, insulin resistance, or glucose levels.
However, the difference in weight loss was more pronounced between the two groups. Compared to the standard nutritional counseling group, participants in the time-restricted eating group lost 3,3% more body weight, 2,2% more body mass index (BMI), and 3,3% more muscle fat percentage, without any loss of lean muscle mass.
More research is needed
Caroline Susie, a registered dietitian and spokesperson for the American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, says research shows that time-restricted eating can help with weight loss and blood sugar control, but it has its limits. says:
She said future studies should include larger sample sizes and long-term follow-up to evaluate the long-term benefits of this diet.
It’s also unclear whether the reason time-restricted eating can lead to weight loss and improved blood sugar control is because of the body’s circadian rhythm, or because it simply makes it easier to cut calories.
Gardner noted that the time-restricted eating group consumed 350 fewer calories per day, which may explain some of the benefit. “This may be consistent with the recommendation that any strategy that helps people reduce calorie intake and lose weight will improve glycemic control,” he said.
Future studies should compare time-restricted eating with other eating patterns to determine whether this is a better approach for weight loss and blood sugar control, Gardner explains.
Questions remain about whether time-restricted eating is more beneficial to certain groups of people. The researchers said there weren’t enough participants to determine whether gender and other factors influenced how people responded to dieting.
But research on how time-restricted eating can improve heart health and help with weight loss is mixed.
Some studies have shown this method to help control blood sugar, lower blood pressure, lose weight, and improve cholesterol, while others show no benefits.
