Intermittent fasting is a dietary pattern in which food intake is restricted to a time window, so that an interval of several hours must be left between one meal and the next. The number of hours of fasting can vary depending on the characteristics and needs of the individual, and now a study has proven that this type of time-restricted diet is safe for patients with type 2 diabetes and can also help them control the symptoms. blood sugar levels and lose weight.
The research that has reached this conclusion has been carried out by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who recruited 75 people who were divided into three groups: one whose participants followed the time-restricted eating rules, another in which who decreased calorie intake and a control group. The researchers obtained measurements of these people’s weight, waist circumference, blood sugar levels and other health indicators for six months.
The results have been published in JAMA Network and reveal that participants who ate only during an eight-hour period between noon and 8 p.m. each day lost more weight over six months than participants who were told to reduce your calorie intake by 25%. Both groups experienced similar reductions in long-term blood sugar levels, measured by a hemoglobin A1C test, which shows blood sugar levels over the past three months.
Eating in a restricted period of time versus traditional diet
Lead author Krista Varady explained that participants in the time-restricted eating group found it easier to follow the regimen than those in the calorie-reduced group. Researchers believe this is partly because doctors often recommend diabetes patients reduce the number of calories they eat as a first line of treatment, so many of the participants had probably already tried (and struggled with) that type of diet. And although participants in the time-restricted eating group were not told to reduce their calorie intake, they ended up doing so by eating within a fixed time frame.
Participants who only ate during an eight-hour period between noon and 8 p.m. lost more weight than those who reduced their calorie intake by 25%.
“Our study shows that time-restricted eating could be an effective alternative to the traditional diet for people who cannot follow it or are tired of it,” said Varady, professor of kinesiology and nutrition. “For many people trying to lose weight, counting time is easier than counting calories.”
Varady has studied different versions of intermittent fasting, such as alternate-day fasting, in which people alternate between eating up to 500 calories one day and then whatever they want the next, and time-restricted eating, in which people only eat for a fixed period of time each day.
Their studies have found that intermittent fasting is generally as good as counting calories when it comes to losing weight: People lose, on average, between 3% and 8% of their starting weight, depending on the type of fasting they do. are doing. And fasting can provide other health benefits, such as lowering blood pressure and insulin resistance.
Participants in the current investigation reported no serious adverse events during the six-month study. The occurrence of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) and hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) did not differ between the diet groups and the control groups.
Varady has acknowledged that this is a small study that should be followed by larger ones and warns that, although it acts as a proof of concept to show that time-restricted eating is safe for people with type 2 diabetes, these patients should consult Talk to your doctors before starting this type of diet.
