Time Restricted Feeding

In the February issue of Endocrine Today, experts discussed the health benefits of time-restricted eating.

There are many benefits of time-restricted eating and many mechanisms that may play a role. It has been shown that time-restricted eating affects the gut microbiome. When we restrict our eating window to only a certain period during the day, it increases the diversity of the gut microbiome and also affects the composition. We know that our gut microbiome may affect our insulin sensitivity and our immune function, and it may have beneficial effects on our cardiovascular system.

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.

The average daily number of meals an individual consumed was associated with long-term weight change, but a time-restricted eating strategy was not, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Participants in a weight-loss program with early time-restricted eating shifted their eating into a smaller window earlier in the day, but did not change frequency or amount of consumption, diet quality or other eating behaviors.

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A recent study found that patients with type 2 diabetes who used a GLP-1 receptor agonist for more than 1 year had an increased risk for thyroid cancer compared with non-users.

Nearly half of a cohort of adults with type 2 diabetes participating in a calorie-restricted intermittent fasting intervention achieved diabetes remission, according to findings from a randomized controlled trial in China.

Short-term time-restricted eating resulted in no changes in sex steroid levels but was associated with a decrease in dehydroepiandrosterone for premenopausal and postmenopausal women with obesity, according to study data.

Time-restricted eating was associated with improvements in cardiometabolic markers among adults with normal weight and overweight, according to a study published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.