Patients with metabolic syndrome may benefit from intermittent fasting: study

Don’t wait until 11 o’clock to sit down to dinner.

Adults with metabolic syndrome may benefit from restricting daily eating to an eight- to 10-hour period, according to a new study — the latest research to support intermittent fasting.

Researchers from the Salk Institute and the University of California, San Diego divided 108 prediabetic adults with metabolic syndrome into two groups.

Metabolic syndrome is a group of health conditions that include high blood pressure, elevated blood sugar, abnormal cholesterol or triglyceride levels, and abdominal obesity.

More than a third of Americans and more than 1 billion people worldwide have this collection of conditions, which increases the risk of diabetes, heart disease, and/or stroke.

Study participants in the first group received nutritional advice and were told to continue their eating patterns.

The second group was given the same nutritional recommendations but was assigned a customized eating window of eight to 10 hours.

For three months, participants recorded their daily meal times in the myCircadianClock app developed by Salk researchers.

The study authors analyzed the data and found that the intermittent fasting group lost more fat and had better blood sugar control than the other group.

The average eating window for the fasting group was 9:14 a.m. to 6:59 p.m.

Only one person in the fasting group reported adverse side effects such as irritability, fatigue and difficulty concentrating, the researchers say.

They are calling for larger studies that further explore the effects of intermittent fasting, but say that time-restricted eating is “a practical and effective lifestyle intervention”.

Their findings were published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

“This particular study, although small, has shown us what we’ve known all along,” Stephanie Schiff, a registered dietitian at Northwell Health’s Huntington Hospital, told The Post.

“Standard meal size advice by itself does not have the impact of individualized and personalized advice, especially when combined with a lifestyle approach that research has long shown has many beneficial outcomes,” she said.

Schiff, who was not involved in the new research, says intermittent fasting and nutritional counseling that takes into account sleep habits, food preferences, physical activity and even sunrise and sunset times may be a way to improve cardiovascular health, blood sugar management and weight. loss.

Previous intermittent fasting research has produced mixed results. Several studies have linked the diet plan to weight loss, a lower risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease, decreased inflammation, and improved cholesterol.

But medical experts have warned that intermittent fasting is not for everyone. A large study found that those who restrict their eating to less than eight hours a day are more likely to die from cardiovascular disease than people who eat within a 12- to 16-hour window.