Time-restricted eating improves cardiometabolic markers among most adults
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Adults partaking in time-restricted eating have greater decreases in body weight, fat mass, fasting blood glucose and other cardiometabolic markers compared with controls, according to findings from a systematic review and meta-analysis.
“Time-restricted eating, particularly time-restricted eating with 16 hours of fasting and an 8-hour eating window each day, is an effective approach to improve the metabolic state of nonobese subjects, especially in overweight participants,” Fang Hu, PhD, professor and deputy director at the Metabolic Syndrome Research Center & Institute of Metabolism and Endocrinology National Clinical Research Center for Metabolic Diseases at the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University in Changsha, China, told Healio. “Surprisingly, we found that time-restricted eating largely improves metabolic state of nonobese subjects, especially in overweight participants, but not in people with obesity.”
Hu and colleagues reviewed randomized controlled trials conducted on time-restricted eating that were published through Feb. 26, 2022, in the PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Library databases. Studies that included a fasting window of at least 12 hours, a follow-up duration of at least 4 weeks, and reported on at least one cardiometabolic measure were included. Researchers analyzed differences in baseline for time-restricted eating and control groups for body weight, waist circumference, BMI, fast mass, fasting glucose, HbA1c, blood pressure, cholesterol and triglycerides. The weighted mean difference between the time-restricted eating and control groups for all of the measures was calculated.
The findings were published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
There were 17 studies with a total of 899 participants included in the meta-analysis. Nine studies included adults with overweight, four included adults with normal weight and four included adults with obesity. The most common time-restricted eating window analyzed was 16 hours of fasting and an 8-hour eating window daily.
Adults participating in time-restricted eating had a greater weight loss compared with controls (weighted mean difference, –1.6 kg; 95% CI, –2.27 to –0.93; P < .001). Time-restricted eating was associated with greater weight loss than controls for all eating patterns except for those who fasted for 12 hours and had a 12-hour eating window. Greater weight loss with time-restricted eating compared with controls was observed for adults with normal weight and overweight, but not for adults with obesity.
Time-restricted eating was associated with a greater decrease in fat mass (weighted mean difference, –1.48 kg; 95% CI, –1.59 to –1.38; P < .001), fasting glucose (weighted mean difference, –4.08 mg/dL; 95% CI, –7.74 to –0.42; P = .03), total cholesterol (weighted mean difference, –6.1 mg/dL; 95% CI, –7.86 to –4.34; P < .001) and homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance (weighted mean difference, –0.39; 95% CI, –0.64 to –0.13; P = .003). No significant difference between the time-restricted eating and control groups was observed for BMI, waist circumference, systolic and diastolic BP, triglycerides, LDL cholesterol and HDL cholesterol.
Among the 12 studies analyzing a 16-hour fasting window and 8-hour eating window, time-restricted eating was associated with a greater body weight decrease among those with normal weight (weighted mean difference, –1.23 kg; 95% CI, –1.9 to –0.56; P < .001) and overweight (weighted mean difference, –1.36 kg; 95% CI, –1.56 to –1.17; P < .001) compared with controls. Similar findings were observed for fat mass among adults with normal weight and overweight. However, no differences in body weight or fat mass were observed among adults with obesity.
“There is an urgent need to perform more high-quality trials, especially relevant to people with obesity, with longer duration of follow-up and greater power in the future to confirm the metabolic effects of time-restricted eating,” Hu said.
For more information:
Fang Hu, PhD, can be reached at hu_fang98@csu.edu.cn.
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