Early time-restricted eating does not affect eating behaviors for adults with obesity

Participants in a weight-loss program with early time-restricted eating shifted their eating into a smaller window earlier in the day, but did not change frequency or amount of consumption, diet quality or other eating behaviors.

“Promoting a nutrient-dense, well-balanced diet with good eating habits is very important for health, as higher diet quality is associated with lower risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer and all-cause mortality,” Felicia L. Steger, PhD, RD, assistant professor in the department of nutrition sciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and the division of endocrinology, diabetes and clinical pharmacology in the department of internal medicine at the University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, and colleagues wrote. “However, little is known about the effects of time-restricted eating on diet quality and food intake.”

This parallel-arm randomized controlled trial included 59 adults with obesity (age range, 25-75 years; mean age, 44 years; 80% women) with a BMI of 30 kg/m² to 60 kg/m² from the UAB Weight Loss Medicine clinic. Participants were randomly assigned to early time-restricted eating plus energy restriction (n = 29), which included an 8-hour eating window from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., or a control eating schedule with a 12-hour or longer eating window plus energy restriction (n = 30) for 14 weeks. Researchers evaluated food intake through the Remote Food Photography Method, and eating patterns, appetite and eating behaviors were recorded through questionnaires.

The findings were published in Obesity.

Overall, 45 participants had valid food records. Early time-restricted eating plus energy restriction did not affect eating frequency (P = .44), eating restraint (P = .42), emotional eating (P = .49) or mealtime consistency (5.8 vs. 6.4 days per week) compared with the control eating schedule. In addition, early time-restricted eating also failed to affect overall diet quality. In addition, participants in the early time-restricted eating group reported more hunger during their fasting time compared with participants in the control eating schedule group.

“Importantly, early time-restricted eating did not increase overall hunger despite producing greater weight loss, although hunger was higher while fasting. Rather, we conclude that individuals following early time-restricted eating incorporate it primarily as a timing rule and condense their habitual eating habits into a smaller window, rather than changing the number, size or food content of meals and snacks,” the researchers wrote. “Therefore, early time-restricted eating is a simple, low-structure dietary intervention that allows increasing flexibility in eating choices by focusing solely on meal timing.”

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