Time-restricted eating does not alter insulin sensitivity, beta-cell function
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
An 8-hour time-restricted eating intervention did not improve insulin sensitivity, insulin secretion or beta-cell function in a small group of adults with overweight or obesity, according to data from a randomized controlled trial.
“Previous literature has reported mixed results of time-restricted eating on glycemic measures in human participants,” Anne E. Bantle, MD, assistant professor of medicine in the department of endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism at the University of Minnesota Medical School, and colleagues wrote in a study published in Obesity. “We found that 12 weeks of time-restricted eating with an 8-hour eating window did not alter multiple oral glucose tolerance test-derived measures when compared with a non-time-restricted eating intervention in participants who did not have type 2 diabetes.”
Researchers conducted a secondary analysis from a randomized controlled trial in which 20 adults with overweight or obesity who were free of chronic disease were randomly assigned to a time-restricted eating window of 8 hours per day with ad libitum food intake or to a control group with no time-restricted eating window for 12 weeks. In the initial study published in Obesity in 2020, researchers observed that time-restricted eating was associated with a 3.7% reduction in body weight from baseline to 12 weeks, along with reductions in fat mass, lean mass and visceral fat.
In the secondary analysis, researchers investigated changes in insulin sensitivity, insulin secretion and beta-cell function. A 2-hour OGTT was conducted at baseline and 12 weeks. Researchers used the QUICKI index, Stumvoll index and Avignon index to measure insulin sensitivity. The insulinogenic index was used to measure insulin secretion, with late-phase insulin secretion assessed using the ratio of area under the insulin curve to area under the glucose curve from 60 minutes to 120 minutes. Beta-cell function was measured using the oral disposition index.
Participants in the time-restricted eating group did not have a significantly different change in any of the measures for insulin sensitivity, insulin secretion or beta-cell function at 12 weeks compared with the control group. The time-restricted eating group had no changes from baseline to 12 weeks in any measures of insulin secretion or beta-cell function. The intervention group did have an improvement in insulin sensitivity as measured by the Avignon index from baseline to 12 weeks, but no differences were observed using the other measures.
In the 2020 study, a correlation was observed between the degree of eating window restriction and fat mass loss and visceral fat loss. However, no correlations between the eating window and insulin sensitivity, insulin secretion or beta-cell function were observed.
The researchers wrote that more research is needed to examine whether time-restricted eating may be beneficial in adults with prediabetes or type 2 diabetes.
Reference:
Chow LS, et al. Obesity. 2020;doi:10.1002/oby.22756.
Collapse
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts