STUDY LINKS EIGHT-HOUR EATING WINDOW TO LASTING WEIGHT LOSS

Restricting food intake to an eight-hour window each day could support long-term weight loss in people who are overweight or obese, according to research presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Malaga. The study found that time-restricted eating helped participants lose weight and maintain that loss for at least a year. Researchers said it made no difference whether people ate earlier or later in the day, provided the eight-hour window was kept up for three months. Dr Alba Camacho-Cardenosa of the University of Granada in Spain led the study.

Dr Camacho-Cardenosa said the benefits stemmed from the resulting 16-hour fasting period rather than meal timing. The study followed 99 people for 12 months, having first split them into four groups for 12 weeks: one eating across 12 hours or more, two restricted to an eight-hour window, one starting before 10am and the other after 1pm, and one choosing its own eight-hour window. All groups received advice on a Mediterranean diet. The 12-hour-plus group lost an average of 1.4kg, against 3kg to 4kg among the time-restricted groups, which also showed greater reductions in waist and hip size and sustained more weight loss after 12 months.

The findings build on an earlier randomised controlled trial by the same research team, published in the journal Nature Medicine, which found that an eight-hour eating window reduced body weight and improved cardiometabolic health. Dr Camacho-Cardenosa said the data show time-restricted eating can produce significant weight loss within three months and sustain it for at least a year. The latest study has not yet undergone peer review. The researchers describe its findings as preliminary rather than confirmed.