Many nutritionists and doctors have believed that eating in the middle of the night could work against achieving a healthy weight, but until recently, there wasn’t any hard evidence to back up that perspective. In a study published in December, a Salk Institute team exploring weight gain and weight loss found that mice blocked from eating during certain parts of the day were likely to avoid obesity and metabolic diseases – regardless if their diet was only inconsistently healthy.
Study #1 – fatty diet
The December study continues the efforts of a project completed in 2012 by the institute, which – like the new study –was published in Cell Metabolism. For the first project, none of the mice exercised. They were all given access to food that contained large amounts of fat – with the control group getting access all the time and the experimental group given access only eight hours per day.
While the group with 24-hour access started to gain weight and experience diabetic symptoms, the group that had access a third of the time only exhibited mild weight gain and maintained a generally healthy metabolism.
Study #2 – fatty and sugary diets
The second study added another layer of complexity, having each of four groups eat a diet that was either the control, had extra fat, had extra fructose, or had extra fat and sucrose. The mice were given the same amount of calories, but ones following each diet were divided into groups that could eat all the time or within certain segments of the day that lasted 9, 12, or 15 hours.
The study lasted nine months, and researchers adjusted some of the mice’s parameters as it proceeded. Some that were generally limited from overeating were given 24-hour access on the weekends, while others that began the study able to eat whenever they wanted were blocked from full access as they went along.
The second study had similar results: the mice that were likeliest to maintain healthy weight throughout were those that only had access to food for 9 or 12 hours daily. Access at all times over the weekends didn’t have a major effect, and mice that were limited halfway through became healthier during the remainder of the study.
“Time-restricted eating didn’t just prevent but also reversed obesity,” explained lead researcher Satchidananda Panda. “That was exciting to see.”
Time of day just one piece of the weight loss puzzle
As indicated in this pair of animal studies, health can be significantly influenced by changing the times at which eating occurs. However, time of day is just one of numerous factors that determine whether you gain or lose weight.
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Sources:
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/01/15/a-12-hour-window-for-a-healthy-weight/