Scientists have found out when it is best to eat during intermittent fasting

Scientists from the University of Granada have found that with intermittent fasting, the timing of when meals begin has virtually no effect on weight loss. People following the 16:8 protocol lose weight equally regardless of whether they consume food in the morning, afternoon, or evening. The results of the study were published in the journal Clinical Nutrition (CN).

The study involved 99 adults who were overweight or obese. Over the course of 12 weeks, all of them followed a Mediterranean diet but were divided into four groups. Some ate only during an eight-hour window starting in the morning, others ate after 1:00 PM, a third group independently chose their eight-hour eating window, and the control group had no time restrictions and ate over a period of more than 12 hours per day.

After the experiment was completed, the scientists assessed changes in body weight and body composition, and a year later conducted a follow-up examination to determine whether the effect had been maintained.

It turned out that all three groups following the 16:8 regimen lost on average three to four kilograms more than the control group participants. At the same time, no significant difference in weight loss was found between the early, late, and flexible variants of intermittent fasting.

Only among participants who started eating earlier did the researchers note slight advantages: somewhat better metabolic indicators and less subcutaneous fat. However, this had virtually no impact on overall weight loss.

After one year, about a third of the participants continued to independently follow the 16:8 regimen. According to the authors, this suggests that intermittent fasting is easier to maintain in the long term compared to some other weight loss methods, such as constant calorie counting.