Time Restricted Eating and Metabolic Effects
A very small study done on time-restricted fasting found that eating earlier in the day reduced body weight, body fat, fasting glucose, insulin levels, insulin resistance, hyperlipidemia, and inflammation. When eating time was in the late afternoon or evening, the positive effects mostly disappeared, and other levels actually worsened. The difference was attributed to circadian rhythms, which regulate glucose, fat, and energy metabolism, as well as sleep. In the study, the subjects ate three meals within a 6 hour period, with breakfast between 6:30 and 8:30 AM, lunch three hours later, and dinner three hours after lunch (so the latest time of the day eating would take place would be 2:30 PM). The only subject whose insulin levels actually worsened on the TRF program had a long history of overnight shift work, which alters normal circadian rhythms.
Liz Kerby, Certified Health Coach & Live Blood Microscopist