A new study suggests that eating a late breakfast and an early dinner reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes, the Mirror reported.
Limiting our eating window to an 8-hour period improves blood glucose control in adults at risk of developing the disease. The researchers were able to confirm that this was not a result of eating less food in general, but because of the long hours during the day when people did not eat.
This longer pause between periods when the body is busy digesting food is thought to aid a number of metabolic functions and promote healthy gut bacteria. This discovery comes at a time when there is a growing trend towards periods of fasting to promote health.
"Many people find it difficult to count calories long-term, but our research shows that keeping track of the clock may offer an easy way to improve blood sugar control in people at risk of type 2 diabetes. This merits study in larger research and in the longer term," said lead author Dr Kelly Bowden Davies of Manchester Metropolitan University.
This is the first study to show that it doesn't matter if the eating window is early, between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., or late, between 12 p.m. and 8 p.m. It involved 15 people who were controlled for what they ate to it is ensured that the benefit found is not due to them consuming less food. They were each assigned a "eucaloric" diet tailored to their energy needs and taking into account gender, age, weight, height and activity level.
Long-term glucose monitoring showed that compared to "usual eating" for 14 hours a day, those eating in the 8-hour window increased the amount of time they spent within the normal blood glucose range by an average of 3.3%. It also reduced markers of glycemic variability – fluctuations in blood glucose levels – by 2.6%. The benefits start to be seen after three days of restricting eating in time.
"Our study found that restricting eating to 8 hours a day significantly improved the daily time spent in the normal blood glucose range and reduced fluctuations in blood glucose levels. This may be attributable to the 16-hour fasting window rather than meal timing or changes in energy intake. Although time-restricted eating is becoming increasingly popular, there are no other studies that have examined tightly controlled eating and altered timing of the 8-hour eating window on glycemic control in people at risk of type 2 diabetes," explained Dr. r Bowden Davies
The results were presented at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes in Madrid. | BGNES
