Abstract
The epidemic of lifestyle-dependent diseases and the failure of previous interventions to combat the main causes demand an alternative approach. Abdominal obesity is associated with most of these diseases and is a good target for therapeutic and preventive measures. Time-restricted feeding (TRF) offers a low-threshold, easy-to-implement lifestyle-modification concept with promising results from animal testing. Here, we describe a pilot study of TRF with abdominally obese participants (waist-to-height ratio, WHtR ≥0.5) in a general practitioner’s office. Participants (n = 40, aged 49.1 ± 12.4, 31 females) were asked to restrict their daily eating time to 8–9 hours in order to prolong their overnight fasting period to 15–16 hours. Questionnaires, anthropometrics, and blood samples were used at baseline and at follow-up. After three months of TRF, participants had reached the fasting target, on average, on 85.5 ± 15.2% of all days recorded. Waist circumference (WC) was reduced by −5.3 ± 3.1cm (p < 0.001), and three participants reached a WHtR <0.5. HbA1c was diminished by −1.4 ± 3.5 mmol/mol (p = 0.003). TRF may be an easily understandable and readily adoptable lifestyle change with the potential to reduce abdominal obesity and lower the risk for cardiometabolic diseases. Further well-designed studies are necessary to investigate the applicability and usefulness of TRF for public health.
Highlights
Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are mainly lifestyle dependent and pose an enormous threat to modern societies
Most of the NCDs are strongly linked to obesity, more precisely to abdominal obesity [4,5,6,7], but despite countless efforts to curb the continuously increasing prevalence of it, successful therapeutic interventions, especially for abdominal obesity, are rare [8]
We focused on otherwise healthy patients with components of the metabolic syndrome (METS)
Summary
Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are mainly lifestyle dependent and pose an enormous threat to modern societies. The WHO numbers of global deaths due to NCDs are markedly high, reaching more than 90% in industrialized countries [1,2]. A significant proportion of those NCD deaths are premature, and life expectancy in most countries is rising, the US has recently seen a decline [3]. There is evidence for various diet programs that support weight loss in general, as long as the diet is maintained [9], and, bariatric surgery is successful, but reserved for only a small part of those affected [10]. Intermittent fasting has attracted more attention from scientists and sparked interest among the general population. Many studies have already been conducted on intermittent fasting and have shown that this type of fasting is safe and effective [11].
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