How many hours of fasting are needed to improve hunger, mood and sleep. What specialists have discovered
Fasting or intermittent fasting (IF), which involves restricting food intake to a predetermined time window, is a widely adopted weight loss approach.
A ten-hour window means restricting your daily eating schedule to ten hours and fasting for the remaining 14 hours.
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For example, if you have your first meal at 9 a.m., you should have your last bite by 7:00 p.m., according to researchers.
Eating within a ten-hour window is associated with better energy, mood and lower hunger levels, according to the latest results from the largest scientific study of this kind conducted in the UK.
The study results were presented by researchers from King's College London at the European Nutrition Conference in Belgrade, held between November 14-17 in Serbia.
Although some IF supporters typically promote restrictive eating windows of up to six hours, the findings of this new study show that eating within a less restrictive window, namely ten hours, still has positive health benefits, such as changes in mood, energy and hunger.
Those who were consistent with their eating window had greater benefits than those who varied their eating window from day to day.
"This is the largest study conducted outside a strictly controlled clinic showing that intermittent fasting can improve health in a real-world setting", said Dr. Sarah Berry from King's College London and lead researcher at ZOE.
The results show that the diet does not have to be very restrictive to see positive results: a ten-hour eating window was manageable for most people, and improvements in mood, energy levels and hunger were observed.
Researchers found for the first time that those who practiced time-restricted eating, but were not consistent every day did not have the same positive health effects as those who maintained the same pace on a daily basis.
A total of 37,545 people from the ZOE Health app completed the main three-week intervention period.
Participants were asked to eat as they normally would in the first week and then adhere to a ten-hour eating window for two weeks.
Over 36,231 participants opted for additional weeks, and 27,371 users were classified as highly engaged in maintaining the eating window. Highly engaged participants were 78% women, with an average age of 60 and a Body Mass Index of 25.6.
Participants with a longer eating window before the intervention saw an even greater health benefit.
According to the authors, this study adds to the growing body of evidence showing the importance of how we eat.
The impact of food on health is not just about what we eat, say researchers, but also about when we choose to have our meals, and eating within a certain time window is an important dietary behavior that can be beneficial for our health.
Furthermore, the findings show that we don't have to eat all the time. Many people will feel full and may even lose weight if they limit eating to a ten-hour window, conclude the researchers who conducted this study.
