Time-Restricted Eating and High-Intensity Exercise Study

Time-restricted eating plus high-intensity exercise lowers glycated hemoglobin and visceral fat for women according to a recent study published in the Cell Metabolism.

Diet modification and exercise training are primary lifestyle strategies for obesity management, but poor adherence rates limit their effectiveness. Time-restricted eating (TRE) and high-intensity interval training (HIIT) improve cardiometabolic health in at-risk individuals, but whether these two interventions combined induce superior improvements in glycemic control than each individual intervention is not known. In this four-armed randomized controlled trial, they determined the isolated and combined effects of 7 weeks of TRE (≤10-h daily eating window, with ad libitum energy intake) and HIIT (three exercise sessions per week), compared with a non-intervention control group, on glycemic control and secondary cardiometabolic outcomes in 131 women (36.2 ± 6.2 years) with overweight/obesity.

Results of the Study

• There were no statistically significant effects after isolated TRE, HIIT, or a combination (TREHIIT) on glucose area under the curve during an oral glucose tolerance test (the primary outcome) compared with the control group.
• However, TREHIIT improved HbA1c and induced superior reductions in total and visceral fat mass compared with TRE and HIIT alone.
• High participant adherence rates suggest that TRE, HIIT, and a combination thereof may be realistic diet-exercise strategies for improving markers of metabolic health in women at risk of cardiometabolic disease.

Thus, time-restricted eating combined with high-intensity interval training (HIIT) decreases HbA1c. Further, the combination of TRE and HIIT reduces visceral fat more than TRE and HIIT alone among women.

Reference

Kamilla L. Haganes, Catalina P. Silva, Svala K. Eyjólfsdóttir, Stian Lydersen, John A. Hawley, Trine Moholdt, et al. Time-restricted eating and exercise training improve HbA1c and body composition in women with overweight/obesity: A randomized controlled trial. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2022.09.003