Eating early in the day may limit blood glucose elevation, time above range
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Key takeaways:
- Consuming 80% of calories before 1 p.m. vs. later in the day resulted in lower glucose elevations and time above range.
- Results did not depend on weight loss.
CHICAGO — A small cohort of adults with obesity and prediabetes had lower glucose elevations and spent less time above range when they ate most of their calories before 1 p.m. compared with a more typical, later eating pattern.
In addition, participants maintained their body weight during the study, ensuring that the glucose effects were independent of weight loss, according to data presented at ENDO 2023.
“Eating the majority of one’s calories earlier in the day reduces blood sugar fluctuation as well as the time that the blood sugar is elevated, thereby improving metabolic health and positioning early time-restricted feeding as a candidate strategy for diabetes prevention,” Joanne Bruno, MD, PhD, an endocrinology fellow at NYU Langone Health in New York, told Healio.
Bruno and colleagues randomly assigned 10 adults with obesity and prediabetes in a metabolic ward, 1:1, to one of two eating patterns with calories calculated to maintain body weight: 80% of calories consumed before 1 p.m. or 50% of calories consumed after 4 p.m. Participants followed the eating pattern for 7 days and then switched to the other pattern for the next 7 days. Participants wore a continuous glucose monitor and underwent an oral glucose tolerance test at baseline and days 7 and 14.
Participants maintained their weight during the study period. During the time-restricted eating phase, participants had a lower mean amplitude of glycemic excursion compared with the usual eating pattern phase (2.5 mmol/L vs. 2.9 mmol/L, respectively; P < .05). Participants also had less time above range when restricting consumption to early in the day (3.1% vs. 6.7%, respectively; P = .02). Time in range and area under the curve of OGTT were similar for both eating patterns.
“Weight loss is currently one of the mainstays of diabetes prevention and treatment in individuals with obesity and metabolic disease. However, significant weight loss and subsequent weight maintenance are difficult to achieve,” Bruno said. “These findings are significant because they provide a straightforward dietary recommendation for regulating blood sugar and potentially for preventing diabetes that does not require weight loss, calorie restriction or carb counting.”
Whether these glycemic improvements can be sustained over months or years will require longer studies, Bruno said.
“We are hopeful that early time-restricted feeding will prove to be a means for diabetes prevention in individuals with prediabetes and obesity, and a means of regulating blood sugar levels and reducing medication burden in individuals with type 2 diabetes,” she said.
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Bruno J, et al. THU-272 Early time-restricted feeding as a weight-neutral approach to improved glycemic variation. Presented at: ENDO Annual Meeting; June 15-18, 2023; Chicago.
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