Article Impact Level: HIGH Data Quality: STRONG Summary of Science Translational Medicine, https://doi.org/10.1126/scitranslmed.adv6787 Dr. Beeke Peters et al.
Points
- Thirty-one women with overweight or obesity participated in a two-week randomized crossover trial of time-restricted eating.
- Interventions included early TRE (8:00 to 16:00) and late TRE (13:00 to 21:00), both intended to be isocaloric.
- Insulin sensitivity, glucose, lipid, inflammatory, and oxidative stress markers showed no significant improvements.
- Participants demonstrated high adherence, minor calorie deficits, and some weight loss, yet no cardiometabolic benefits.
- Late TRE shifted circadian phases in blood monocytes and sleep midpoint, but without improving health markers.
Summary
This randomized crossover trial investigated the effects of intended isocaloric time-restricted eating (TRE) on insulin sensitivity, cardiometabolic risk factors, and internal circadian phase in 31 women with overweight or obesity. The study directly compared a two-week early TRE protocol (eating from 8:00 to 16:00) with a two-week late TRE protocol (eating from 13:00 to 21:00). Participants maintained their habitual food quality and quantity within the eight-hour eating window to ensure an isocaloric design.
The findings indicated no significant differences in insulin sensitivity between interventions (-0.07; 95% confidence interval [CI], -0.77 to 0.62; P = 0.60) or within interventions (early TRE: 0.31; 95% CI, -0.14 to 0.76; P = 0.11; late TRE: 0.19; 95% CI, -0.22 to 0.60; P = 0.25). Furthermore, 24-hour measurements of glucose, lipid, inflammatory, and oxidative stress markers showed no clinically meaningful differences either between or within the intervention groups, suggesting a lack of cardiometabolic benefit under isocaloric conditions.
Despite high timely adherence (early TRE: 96.5%; late TRE: 97.7%) and unchanged dietary composition and physical activity, participants experienced a minor daily calorie deficit (early TRE: -167 kcal/day) and some weight loss (early TRE: -1.08 kg; late TRE: -0.44 kg). While late TRE shifted the circadian phase in blood monocytes (24 minutes; 95% CI, -5 to 54 minutes; P = 0.10) and sleep midpoint (15 minutes; 95% CI, 7 to 23 minutes; P < 0.001) later compared to early TRE, these circadian shifts did not translate into improved cardiometabolic health.
Link to the article: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.adv6787
References
Peters, B., Schwarz, J., Schuppelius, B., Ottawa, A., Koppold, D. A., Weber, D., Steckhan, N., Mai, K., Grune, T., Pfeiffer, A. F. H., Michalsen, A., Kramer, A., & Pivovarova-Ramich, O. (2025). Intended isocaloric time-restricted eating shifts circadian clocks but does not improve cardiometabolic health in women with overweight. Science Translational Medicine, 17(822), eadv6787. https://doi.org/10.1126/scitranslmed.adv6787
