Two recent studies seem to support each other’s contentions that the timing and duration of meals – particularly the first and last meals of the day – can effect weight loss, or gain. Could this be the simplest, most natural weight control program ever devised? Only if you can make the necessary social and family adjustments…
Maybe Douglas Adams was onto something when he had Ford Prefect tell
Arthur Dent that, ‘Time is an illusion…’ in the opening episode
of The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy…
Changes in breakfast, dinner times can help reduce body Fat
A small-scale study by researchers at the University of Surrey, UK, has produced intriguing results, showing a clear connection between the timing of meals and the deposition and maintenance of body Fat.
What they did…
A team led by Dr. Jonathan Johnston observed two groups of average people over a 10-week period during which one group delayed their breakfast by 90 minutes each day and advanced their supper by the same amount. The other group, the controls, just ate as they normally would. All the study subjects were allowed what they wanted and as much as they wanted. Participants kept daily dining diaries and filled out a follow-up questionnaire at the end of the study.
What they found…
Researchers found that those who changed their mealtimes ate less food overall than the control group. This result was supported by questionnaire responses which found that 57 percent of participants noted a reduction in food intake either due to reduced appetite, decreased eating opportunities (no ‘lunch’) or a cutback in snacking (particularly in the evenings).
But the catch is, more than half the study participants whose eating times were changed said they didn’t think they couldn’t maintain such a program indefinitely because their lives would be too out-of-synch with that of their families’, and the demands of their social and business roles.
“Fasting diets are difficult to follow and may not always be compatible with family and social life,” Johnston admits. “We therefore need to make sure they are flexible and conducive to real life, as the potential benefits of such diets are clear to see. We are now going to use these preliminary findings to design larger, more comprehensive studies of time-restricted feeding.”
Restricted eating ‘windows’ may cure obesity, other ills
A new study published in the journal Cell Metabolism is reports that limiting the times when lab mice eat can correct obesity and other metabolic problems that are normally seen in these mice, even when they’re fed an unhealthy diet. The results suggest a previously unknown link between disruption of the clock and eating behavior.
What they did…
The study looked at three different strains of mice that had their circadian clocks disrupted. This is done by knocking out certain genes that are known to regulate internal timing. Some of the mice had access to food whenever they wanted, but others had their eating restricted to a 9- to 10-hour time window. However, the total calorie intake was the same, whether the mice had disrupted clocks or not.
What they found…
Other studies have shown that, when normal mice are given free access to food that’s high in fat and sugar, the bad diet overrides the circadian, or body clock. This leads to the mice eating randomly and developing metabolic diseases. However, this new study shows that, by restricting the timing of when the mice are allowed to eat to an 8- to 12-hour time window, researchers are able to prevent and reverse the health impacts of the unhealthy diet, as measured by indicators such as high cholesterol and glucose levels and stamina on a treadmill. Such time-restricted feeding also led to robust rhythms in circadian clock components.
My take…
Timing may not, as the old saying goes, ‘be everything’. But it sure counts for a lot in the eternal game of weight loss and gain, if the findings of these two new studies are any indication. But I agree with the researchers that restricting eating times and changing the timing of the main meals of the day appear to be valid approaches to proper management of both our circadian clocks and out metabolisms.
Alas, I also agree that implementing such changes in even small groups, let alone across populations, is currently a vain hope, due to the inevitable clash of recommended eating times and durations with family, social and vocational obligations. I work from home and have no social life, so I may be one of a very few exceptions to that ‘rule’. Nevertheless…
One thing we can all do as a start toward managing our body clocks better is to cut out the between-meal snacking and, of course, ban ‘midnight snacking’. The wee, dark hours appear, according to the results of both of these studies, to be the worst possible time to take aboard extra calories!
~ Maggie J.