London: Fasting for 14 hours and eating within a 10-hour window results in favourable health advantages in terms of mood, energy, and hunger, a UK community research study said to be largest in its kind revealed.
The findings of yet another study showing benefits of fasting were presented at the European Nutrition Conference by researchers from King's College London.
Intermittent fasting (IF), or limiting meal consumption to a specific time period, is a popular way for weight loss. With a ten-hour window, you limit your daily eating schedule to 10 hours and fast for the remaining 14 hours.
The study found that those who were consistent with their eating window had greater benefits than those who varied their eating window day to day.
Despite the fact that certain intermittent fasting advocates frequently promote restrictive eating windows as short as six hours, data presented in the abstract suggest that eating within a less restrictive window of ten hours has beneficial health effects such as changes in mood, energy, and appetite.
"This is the largest study outside of a tightly controlled clinic to show that intermittent fasting can improve your health in a real-world setting. What's really exciting is that the findings show that you don't have to be very restrictive to see positive results", Dr Sarah Berry from King's College London and Chief Scientist at ZOE said.
"A ten-hour eating window, which was manageable for most people, improved mood, energy levels and hunger. We found for the first time that those who practised time-restricted eating, but were not consistent day to day, did not have the same positive health effects as those who were dedicated every day", she added.
A total of 37,545 people who participated in the study via ZOE Health app completed the core intervention period of three weeks. The participants were asked to eat as normal for the first week and then a ten-hour eating window for two weeks.
More than 36,231 participants opted for additional weeks and 27,371 users were classified as highly engaged. Highly engaged participants were 78 per cent female, with a mean age of 60 and a BMI of 25.6.
The researchers found participants with a longer eating window before the intervention saw an even greater benefit to their health.
"The findings of the study show that we don't need to be eating all the time. Many people will feel satiated and even lose weight if they restrict their food to a ten-hour window", Kate Bermingham PhD, from King's College London and ZOE, said.
The benefits of fasting as revealed by this study is in line with what Muslims worldover experience during the holy month of Ramadan when they keep fast from dawn to dusk - spanning over 14 to 15 hours daily.
Another study on the same topic found that intermittent fasting helps change the activity of gut bacteria and increase their ability to recover from nerve damage.
Also, researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) Leonard Davis School of Gerontology showed that a periodic fasting diet could reduce cardiovascular risk factors, among other health benefits.
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