MON-606 Changes in Eating Frequency but Not in Food Quality During Time Restricted Eating: Analysis from the See Food Study

Abstract

Time-restricted eating (TRE) is a form of intermittent fasting that has gained interest in nutrition research and interventions as one of the dietary patterns to promote weight loss and other metabolic benefits. TRE is an eating pattern in which all nutrient intakes occur within a few hours (< 12 hours) every day, with no overt attempt to alter nutrient quality or quantity. The “See Food” study was a randomized, unblinded, controlled, behavioral interventional pilot clinical trial conducted from 2017-2018, that aimed to study the effect of a TRE intervention on metabolic health of overweight and obese participants, using the help of novel digital mobile technology. The objective of the current study is to analyze changes in diet quality among participants of the “See Food” study. Specifically, food intake patterns (frequency and type of meals, snacks and beverages) were compared between subjects in the 8-hour TRE intervention group, versus the unrestricted intake control group. Inclusion criteria included age 18-65, BMI >25 kg/m2, had stable sleep and work schedule and owned a smartphone. Participants with diabetes, cardiovascular disease, uncontrolled pulmonary disease, pregnancy and nursing were excluded. A total of 20 participants with overweight or obesity (9 in control group and 11 in TRE group) were enrolled. Participants were instructed to use the “myCircadianClock” smartphone application to document their time of eating, type of meal and food images at baseline and during the intervention period of 14 weeks. The TRE group was instructed to consume calories within 8 hours each day. We compared the data between 14 days at baseline and 14 days at the end of the intervention. An eating occasion (EO) as defined as an occasion when a food or beverage (other than water) was consumed, and was separate from another EO by at least 15 minutes. Compared to baseline, both the TRE (3.8±0.4 vs 5.3±0.4, p<0.0001) and control group (4.9±0.4 vs 5.6±0.5, p=0.007) had less eating frequency. The TRE group had less eating frequency compared to control group (-1.5±0.2 vs -0.6±0.2, p=0.01) at the end of the study. Meal quality was classified by meal or snack type using a food-based classification system, and included 6 Eos ranging from a complete meal, to a low-quality snack. Beverages were classified separately by type. There were no differences in meal quality between the TRE and control group. The TRE group had less frequency of high-quality snack (-0.5±0.1 vs 0.05±0.1, p=0.008), mixed quality snack (-0.03±0.06 vs -0.3±0.07, p=0.01) and caffeinated beverage (-0.6±0.09 vs -0.008±0.1) compared to the control group. Conclusions: There was a reduction in eating frequency but no change in food quality when following an 8-hour TRE. Estimation of calories intake was limited in this study. A strength of the study is the use of a novel mobile app to track timing of meals. This would be feasible to implement in a real life setting.