A 12-week comparison showed that different schedules of time-restricted eating—early, late, or self-selected—and a Mediterranean diet all resulted in similar reductions in visceral fat. None of the approaches was significantly more effective than the others.

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Over a 12-week period, early time-restricted eating, late time-restricted eating, self-selected time-restricted eating, and a Mediterranean diet alone do not produce significantly different reductions in visceral fat.

Supporting

Strong

1 study

Very strong evidence

Randomized trials

One good-quality study supports this claim.

What the research says

1 study reviewed

Supporting (1)

Strong

Effects of early, late and self-selected time-restricted eating on visceral adipose tissue and cardiometabolic health in participants with overweight or obesity: a randomized controlled trial
Randomized Controlled TrialHuman2025
The study found that eating all your meals within an 8-hour window—whether early, late, or whenever you choose—did not reduce belly fat more than just following a Mediterranean diet, so all the diets worked about the same.

Contradicting (0)

None

No contradicting studies found yet

That doesn't mean it's settled — it just means no study has tested the opposite.

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Score breakdown, mechanism chain, raw evidence, ideal studies needed & 1 supporting study

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