More than one-third of adults in the United States have metabolic syndrome, a cluster of conditions that significantly raise a person's risk of heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. These conditions include high blood pressure, elevated blood sugar, excess abdominal fat, and abnormal cholesterol levels. In a new clinical trial, researchers at the Salk Institute and University of California San Diego School of Medicine found that time-restricted eating—also known as intermittent fasting—could offer significant health benefits to adults with metabolic syndrome.
Patients who ate within a consistent eight-to-ten-hour window each day for three months saw improvements in several markers of blood sugar regulation and metabolic function compared to those who received standard treatments. "Our bodies actually process sugars and fats very differently depending on the time of day," says Salk Professor Satchidananda Panda, co-corresponding author of the study and holder of the Rita and Richard Atkinson Chair. "In time-restricted eating, we are re-engaging the body's natural wisdom and harnessing its daily rhythms to restore metabolism and improve health.
" The TIMET study is the first to evaluate the benefits of a customized time-restricted eating schedule in patients taking medication for metabolic syndrome. The results are published in Annals of Internal Medicine . "For many patients, metabolic syndrome is the tipping point that leads to serious and chronic diseases like diabe.