A time to eat: New research connects fasting regimes to better weight management

24 Jul 2024 --- New scientific analyses on eating times in relation to circadian rhythm and metabolism show that it affects overall health and well-being. Nutrition experts from several US research institutes examined the effects of different fasting regimens — one of the most popular diets for weight loss — and found that timing will become more critical in dietary interventions.

Dietary adherence has been identified as the strongest predictor of successful weight loss and intermittent fasting is considered a good strategy because it does not require expensive foods. The researchers covered safety considerations and practical guidance on applying the reviewed diets. 

“Many people stop adhering to standard diets that restrict calories because they become frustrated with having to regularly monitor food intake day in and day out. Intermittent fasting protocols can bypass this requirement by allowing participants to simply ‘watch the clock’ instead of monitoring calories, while still producing weight loss,” says Krista Varady, Ph.D., Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition, University of Illinois Chicago, US.

Meanwhile, researchers from the UK-based University of Waterloo and the University of Oxford have developed a mathematical model to understand the resilience of the circadian master clock or suprachiasmatic nucleus in the brain.

The clock vs calorie counting
The study, which was published in a special issue of the JAND (Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics) on chrononutrition, published by Elsevier, examines the effects of various fasting regimens, such as time-restricted eating, alternate day fasting and the 5:2 diet, on body weight, cardiometabolic disease risk and sleep and exercise performance in human subjects.

Varady specializes in studying the efficacy of intermittent fasting for weight loss, weight management and lowering the risk of metabolic diseases in obese adults.

“Furthermore, intermittent fasting does not require the purchase of expensive food products and allows individuals to continue consuming familiar foods, making it a highly accessible diet, especially for lower resource patient groups.”

Although fasting regimens are no more effective than other diet interventions for weight management, the researcher notes that the protocols offer individuals an alternative, straightforward approach to addressing obesity by omitting the need for calorie counting.A fasting regime is an inexpensive weight loss strategy and is becoming more popular.  

“While weight loss is important, having a diet with a wide variety of nutrient-dense foods such as fruits, vegetables and legumes is paramount in maintaining a replete nutritional status. These foods can be both inexpensive and culturally appropriate,” says Varaday. 

Researchers from the University of Illinois, the University of Iowa, the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC), the US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine and the National Institutes of Health conducted the study.

Weight loss and glucose management
According to the researchers, chrononutrition is gaining traction as it explores the relationship between temporal eating patterns, circadian rhythms and metabolism for optimal health.

The special issue includes the novel study “Randomized Controlled Feasibility Trial of Late 8-Hour Time-Restricted Eating for Adolescents With type 2 Diabetes,” in which researchers examine eating within an 8-hour window as an interventional strategy for weight loss and glucose management for adolescents with obesity and new-onset type 2 diabetes.

“The prevalence of type 2 diabetes in adolescents is steadily increasing, specifically among historically marginalized communities. Many adolescents prefer to go to bed later and sleep in later, so an early eating window may not align with developmental and social schedules that often shift their food consumption to later in the day,” says Dr. Alaina Vidmar, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and Keck School of Medicine of USC and lead investigator of the study.

“We trialed a late eating window for our cohort and found that late time-restricted eating is safe and acceptable for this subset of adolescents as it can result in clinically meaningful weight loss, reduction in alanine transaminase, and significant caloric reduction; it did not negatively impact sleep, eating behaviors or physical activity.”

Another paper, “Indices of Sleep Health Are Associated With Timing and Duration of Eating in Young Adults,” details findings from a cross-sectional study among 52 young adults without chronic diseases or conditions on whether timing or duration of eating behaviors throughout the day affect sleep health.

“Breakfast skipping and nighttime eating are among typical eating behaviors observed in young adults in the US. Our study found that the timing of eating was associated with sleep-wake onset and sleep efficiency,” says Jess Gwin, Ph.D., Military Nutrition Division, US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine and lead investigator on that study.

“This highlights the need for additional studies to understand whether manipulating the timing of eating occasions to better align with sleep-wake cycles could improve sleep health.”

Adherence to the diet
Interventions tailored to individual preferences and circumstances could benefit time-restricted eating adherence, according to the article “Time-Restricted Eating in Community-Dwelling Adults: Correlates of Adherence and Discontinuation in a Cross-Sectional Online Survey Study.” 

“Dietary adherence is the strongest predictor of successful weight loss and maintenance; therefore, identifying dietary strategies that facilitate adherence is a priority in the field of behavioral weight management,” notes Sydney O’Connor, Ph.D, Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research at the National Institutes of Health and research lead on the paper.

“We looked at motivators such as weight maintenance, health (not weight), improved sleep, disease prevention and drivers such as the ability to work from home and the impact of COVID-19.”

By Inga de Jong