For our study, the time window in which participants were allowed to eat was delibarately set to daytime, with the last meal being ingested at 6 PM the latest. We did this so that the time-window fits in the natural, internal day-night rhythm of humans.
WeightControl.com Interview with: Charlotte Andriessen Department of Nutrition and Movement Sciences Maastricht University
WeightControl.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: In our modern 24h society, most people spread their food intake over at least 14 hours per day. As such, they lack a pronounced fasting state during the night and energy stores are hardly being depleted. Here, we wanted to re-store this pronounced overnight fast in people with type 2 diabetes, by limiting their habitual food intake to a 10-hour daily time window (time restricted eating, TRE) for a period of 3 weeks.
We hypothesized that the utilization of energy stores during the night would increase the need to re-fuel these stores with the first meal of the day, and would therefore result in a better energy uptake via the hormone insulin; i.e. would result in better insulin sensitivity. Although we did not find insulin sensitivity to be increased with TRE, we did find that fasting- and 24h glucose levels were decreased as compared to our control condition, in which participants spread their habitual food intake over at least 14 hours per day. Moreover, our volunteers spent more time in the normal glucose range, whereas the time restricted eating regime did not increase the time spent in hypoglyceamia.
If anyone is interested in tracking their own eating pattern and setting personal goals for when they eat, they are welcome to use the smartphone app that Dr. Panda’s lab created called myCircadianClock.
WeightControl.com Interview with: Satchidananda PandaPhD Professor, Regulatory Biology Laboratory Salk Institute for Biological Studies La Jolla, CA
Dr. Panda
WeightControl.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Our bodies have internal rhythms to help keep everything happening in the body at the right place and the right time. These internal rhythms play a large role in our health and can increase the risk for disease when compromised. Time-restricted eating (TRE) maintains a consistent eating time to help support these circadian rhythms and overall health.
WeightControl.com: What should readers take away from your report?
Response: Limiting food and beverages to a consistent 8-10 hours is an important part of a healthy lifestyle and can help prevent and treat chronic disease. Many studies have shown moderate weight loss (3-5%) as well as other health benefits including improved glucose regulation, decreased blood pressure, and decreased cholesterol.
WeightControl.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this work?
Response: This review highlights the need for larger and longer term Time-restricted eating trials in diverse groups including those who are healthy as well as individuals with chronic diseases. It is also important that all TRE trials assess the timing of eating before and throughout the study to understand how eating patterns change and adherence to the intervention.
WeightControl.com: Is there anything else you would like to add?
Response: If anyone is interested in tracking their own eating pattern and setting personal goals for when they eat, they are welcome to use the smartphone app that Dr. Panda’s lab created called myCircadianClock. The app is available on iPhone and android phones, is free to use, and data is only used for research purposes. You can sign up at www.mycircadianclock.org.
Disclosures: Dr. Satchin Panda is the author of The Circadian Code.
Citation:
Emily N Manoogian, Lisa S Chow, Pam R Taub, Blandine Laferrère, Satchidananda Panda, Time-restricted eating for the prevention and management of metabolic diseases, Endocrine Reviews, 2021;, bnab027, https://doi.org/10.1210/endrev/bnab027
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The importance of the time of day and our internal clock for food intake and energy metabolism is a very exciting research field. Future studies should investigate why we spend so much more energy after breakfast than after dinner
WeightControl.com Interview with: M. Sc. Juliane Richter University of Lübeck Center of Brain, Behavior and Metabolism Section of Psychoneurobiology
WeightControl.com: What is the
background for this study? What are the
main findings?
Response: The background for this study is
that there is still the misbelief that it does not matter when we eat and that
the only thing that counts is the energy balance of the whole day. However,
since our body has an internal clock and many processes in the body, for
example glucose metabolism, are subject to diurnal variations, we investigated
whether diet-induced thermogenesis also varies during the course of the day.
Diet-induced thermogenesis is the energy our body spends for the digestion,
absorption and transport of nutrients. We found that diet-induced thermogenesis
after breakfast is more than twice as high as after dinner. We also
investigated whether this difference in time of day depends on the amount of
calories consumed. In both cases, high- and low-calorie meals, the body spends
more energy after breakfast than after dinner.
