Intermittent fasting could aid metabolic health
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Intermittent fasting could improve blood sugar regulation, cholesterol counts and weight loss for the 1 in 3 Americans with metabolic syndrome, new research shows.
Why it matters: The findings in Annals of Internal Medicine show that limiting food intake to certain hours of the day can be a practical, low-cost way to improve cardiometabolic health, researchers from the Salk Institute and University of California San Diego School of Medicine write.
- Time-restricted eating already has become a popular diet strategy, though the jury's out on whether it leads to permanent weight loss.
The big picture: Metabolic syndrome is a group of conditions that increase the risk for developing Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke.
- The belief is that intermittent fasting could reset the body's rhythms and make it process sugars and fats more optimally.
What they found: 108 adults with metabolic syndrome, high body mass index and elevated glucose levels tracked their food intake on an app for three months between April 2019 and October 2022. Most participants also continued to receive at least one medication.
- One group of participants was assigned a specific 8-10 hour window for eating each day, while the other continued their normal eating habits.
- Both groups received some nutritional advice, and neither were asked to restrict their calorie intake.
What they found: Personalized time-restricted eating improved blood sugar regulation compared with only having nutritional counseling, with fasting participants seeing a 1.7% greater relative reduction of blood sugar levels compared with the others.
- Reducing blood sugar levels can, in turn, help prevent Type 2 diabetes.
- The fasting group also saw a 3.3% decrease in weight and 3.6% decrease in body fat percentage, while the counseling-only cohort saw a 1.5% decrease in weight and 0.4% decrease in body fat.
Yes, but: More research is needed on the long-term effects of intermittent fasting and to see if these results are replicable, the study noted. The trial involved mostly white participants.
