Despite high adherence and safety, time-restricted eating fails to beat the Mediterranean diet for visceral fat loss but shines in other areas like subcutaneous fat reduction and glucose control. Study: Effects of early, late and self-selected time-restricted eating on visceral adipose tissue and cardiometabolic health in participants with overweight or obesity: a randomized controlled trial . Image Credit: goffkein.
pro / Shutterstock In a recent study published in the journal Nature Medicine , researchers evaluated the impacts of various time-restricted eating (TRE) windows in combination with usual care (UC) and a Mediterranean diet in managing visceral adipose tissue (VAT) in overweight or obese individuals. The randomized controlled trial evaluated 197 adults across early TRE, late TRE, and self-selected TRE in combination with a 12-week-long UC program. Study findings revealed that TRE, while being a safe, feasible, and well-tolerated dietary approach, provided no additional benefits to participants' VAT management compared to Mediterranean diet-based UC education alone.
These results suggest that caloric restriction and dietary adherence may play a more pivotal role than TRE timing in reducing VAT. These findings were consistent irrespective of the TRE timing investigated. Notably, the early TRE cohort depicted a marked reduction in their subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) compared to other TRE groups.
Background Overweight (body mass index [BMI] > 25) and obesity (BMI >.
