Credit: Original article published here.
A fasting diet that emphasizes eating early in the day may reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The findings were reported in Nature Medicine.
To conduct this study, researchers compared two different diets: one, a time restricted, intermittent fasting diet, and the other a reduced calorie diet. The 18-month study consisted of 200 participants from South Australia.
While participants in both study groups experienced weight loss, the time restricted diet yielded better results as it pertains to diabetes protection.
“Following a time restricted, intermittent fasting diet could help lower the chances of developing type 2 diabetes,” said senior author the University of Adelaide’s Professor Leonie Heilbronn, Adelaide Medical School via a press release about the study. “People who fasted for three days during the week, only eating between 8am and 12pm on those days, showed a greater tolerance to glucose after 6 months than those on a daily, low-calorie diet.”
“Participants who followed the intermittent fasting diet were more sensitive to insulin and also experienced a greater reduction in blood lipids than those on the low-calorie diet.”
“This is the largest study in the world to date and the first powered to assess how the body processes and uses glucose after eating a meal, which is a better indicator of diabetes risk than a fasting test,” added first author Xiao Tong Teong, a PhD student at the University of Adelaide.
“The results of this study add to the growing body of evidence to indicate that meal timing and fasting advice extends the health benefits of a restricted calorie diet, independently from weight loss, and this may be influential in clinical practice.”
