Could changing your meal times reduce body fat?

This is the fascinating premise of a recent study published in the Journal of Nutritional Science.

You may be forgiven for not recognising the term “chrononutrition” but this is the term for the interaction between nutrition and our internal body clock. With no change at all to diet, the researchers investigated whether simply delaying breakfast by 90 minutes and having dinner 90 minutes earlier, might have an effect on dietary intake, body composition and risk markers for diabetes and heart disease.

Remarkably, they found that an average of 2% of body fat was lost by those who changed their mealtimes, compared to no significant change in the placebo group. Those who changed their mealtimes were also found to have eaten less food overall than the control group. This is one of the latest investigations into a new dietary concept called Time-Restricted Feeding (TRF) which reduces the time between the first and last intake of food each day, effectively increasing the “fasting” time. Whilst this way of eating may not always fit in with our family and social life, the potential benefits for our health are promising. To give the body an extra helping hand, we recommend a digestive aid supplement, such as Supergest.

Jenny Bodenham BA(Hons), Dip.ION

Reference:

Antoni R, Robertson TM et al. A pilot feasibility study exploring the effects of a moderate time-restricted feeding intervention on energy intake, adiposity and metabolic physiology in free-living human subjects. Journal of Nutritional Science. 7. 10.1017/jns.2018.13.