The Study
Randomized controlled trial for time-restricted eating in healthy volunteers without obesity
This study is like a fair test where people were randomly picked to eat their meals only in the morning, only in the afternoon, or however they wanted. After five weeks, the morning-eating group showed better health markers. But it doesn’t prove eating in the morning causes better health — it just shows a strong link in this small group under these specific rules.
Analysis score
Maximum 90 for a randomized controlled trial.
Where the score came from
This study tested if eating only between 6am and 3pm helps healthy people feel better, even without eating less food.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 574 / 100
Quality score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. The gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1These changes are meaningful—they’re similar to improvements seen in people with prediabetes who lose weight, but here people didn’t even eat less.
- 2People who ate only between 6am–3pm lost 1.6kg, dropped 0.76kg of fat, had better insulin levels (−1.08 HOMA-IR), lower blood sugar (−0.59 mmol/L), less inflammation, and healthier gut bacteria.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Nature Communications
Year
2022
Authors
Zhibo Xie, Yuning Sun, Yuqian Ye, Dandan Hu, Huan Zhang, Zhangyuting He, Haitao Zhao, Huayu Yang, Y. Mao
Related Content
Claims (6)
Eating all meals within a daily time window improves metabolic function and gut health, even when total calories consumed remain unchanged.
In healthy, non-obese adults, eating all meals within a narrow window each day for five weeks lowers fasting blood glucose by 0.59 mmol/L compared to eating throughout the day.
In healthy, non-obese adults, eating meals within a restricted early window for five weeks results in a 1.6 kg reduction in total body mass and a 0.76 kg reduction in body fat compared to eating without time restrictions.
In healthy, non-obese adults, eating meals within a restricted early window for five weeks lowers blood levels of two inflammatory markers, TNF-α and IL-8, compared to eating without time restrictions, which raises these markers.
In healthy, non-obese adults, eating all meals within a narrow window each day for five weeks increases gut microbial diversity by 18 units on the Chao1 index compared to eating without time restrictions, which is associated with lower diversity.
In healthy, non-obese adults, eating only between 6:00 and 15:00 for five weeks lowers insulin resistance by 1.08 HOMA-IR units compared to eating without time restrictions.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.