Time-restricted eating (TRE) is a trendy approach to weight management. This involves limiting the hours of the day in which food is consumed and observing a specific eating interval, usually between eight and 12 hours. In addition to weight loss, some believe this approach can contribute to overall health, including improvements in blood pressure, triglycerides, and cholesterol. However, research into its health benefits has been mixed, with one recent study finding that people who practice intermittent fasting, a type of time-restricted eating, have a 91% higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease , writes Yahoo News.
Many people on social media say that time-restricted eating is what helped them lose weight. Proponents of this practice say that this is because the body has more time to burn fat as fuel instead of burning calories from food. However, the truth behind its effectiveness as a weight-loss tool for some people may be much simpler: time-restricted eating simply means that you may be consuming fewer calories overall, creating a caloric deficit, which leads to weight loss.
What conclusions does the new study bring?
The new Johns Hopkins University study included 41 adults with obesity and prediabetes, randomly divided into a time-restricted eating pattern group with a 10-hour eating window and a group with a regular eating pattern, for 12 weeks. Both groups received nutritionally identical prepared meals and instructions regarding the timing of the meals.
Dr. Nisa Maruthur, associate professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins Medicine and author of the study, explains that the purpose of the research was “to understand whether restricting calories during a certain time window earlier in the day would lead to greater loss in weight than eating later in the day with fewer time restrictions – in a context of stable caloric intake.” The researchers found that after 12 weeks, both groups lost similar amounts of weight, and there were no significant differences in other markers of metabolic health. Although the study was small, the researchers “did not find that time-restricted eating was beneficial for weight loss if the number of calories was held constant.”
What a nutritionist says
Julia Perlman, registered nutritionist and co-founder of JAM Nutrition, points out that “whether it’s time-restricted eating or regular eating patterns, weight loss is generally achieved by consuming fewer calories than you burn “. The exact amount of calorie deficit a person needs to lose weight is something that can be determined with a nutritionist.
Perlman notes that there are many factors that “affect our weight loss success,” such as hormones, medications, metabolism, exercise, and sleep. However, in general, the time we eat is not, in itself, as important as some people think.
“You can definitely lose weight if you eat dinner at 9pm – that’s something I always tell my clients,” she explains. “It’s more about what the whole day looks like in terms of energy intake.”
If it really doesn’t matter when we eat, why do some people claim to lose weight by eating in a tight space? Perlman says it’s not about what time people eat, but whether they’re in a caloric deficit. The less time you allow yourself to eat, the less you may eat overall. If you close your kitchen at 6:00 p.m., you can’t have a late snack to get you out of the caloric deficit.
Perlman adds that time-restricted eating can have significant drawbacks, which can vary from person to person. “For some people, it can lead to eating disorders or binge-eating behaviors,” she explains. “It may not sabotage your weight loss, but it can sabotage your relationship with food.”
It also points out that some may neglect nutrition when practicing time-restricted eating — such as someone who fills their stomach with fast food for their only meal of the day. “We also want to focus on health,” Perlman says. “If we eat through regular eating patterns, we give ourselves more time to eat and more time to absorb more nutrients throughout the day.”
Stay up to date with the latest news. Follow DCNews on Google News too
