Time-restricted eating tied to greater blood sugar control and fat loss than standard nutrition counseling: Study

A randomized control trial of adults with metabolic syndrome evaluated the effect of time-restricted eating (TRE) on glucose control, fat mass, and weight loss. The data revealed that TRE led to greater modest improvement in glucose control and decreases in weight and fat mass when coupled with standard nutritional counseling than standard nutritional counseling alone. The study is published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Researchers from the The Salk Institute and UCSD Medicine studied data from 108 adult participants with metabolic syndrome (MetS), elevated BMI, and elevated HbA1c or fasting glucose characteristic of prediabetes.

They aimed to assess the efficacy of personalized TRE in participants on top of standard nutritional counseling to determine the effects of TRE as a lifestyle intervention. Researchers randomly assigned participants into two groups that had different interventions; in the first group, participants were given standardized lifestyle and nutritional recommendations and advised to continue their eating patterns.

The second group was given the same nutritional recommendations, but they were also assigned to a personalized 8 to 10 hour eating window. Researchers remotely monitored the intervention for three months, during which the participants logged the timing of dietary intake in the myCircadianClock (mCC) app every day. The primary outcome was changes in fasting glucose, while secondary outcomes included changes in HbA1c and cardiometabolic parameters. Results found that, compared to the group receiving standard nutritional guidance, the TRE group not only had a greater decrease of weight, but a higher proportion of the weight lost was from fat-suggesting TRE likely poses a lower risk for deterioration of muscle associated with weight loss.

Further, while the changes were modest, the TRE group observed greater improvement in blood sugar control and hemoglobin A1c levels. Ultimately, the data indicates that TRE is an effective practical lifestyle intervention with benefits for glycemic regulation and cardiometabolic health. The study contributes to the library of existing research on TRE and metabolic syndromes. In addition, its methodological innovation in using the mCC app enables future studies to be remote and at a larger scale.

Reference:

Emily N.C. Manoogian, Michael J. Wilkinson, Monica O’Neal, Kyla Laing, Justina Nguyen, BS, David Van,  Ashley Rosander, Time-Restricted Eating in Adults With Metabolic Syndrome: A Randomized Controlled Trial, Annals of Internal Medicine, https://doi.org/10.7326/M24-0859.