A new review has found that eating all your meals within a set time each day—called time-restricted eating—might help prevent type 2 diabetes and obesity.
This way of eating means you only eat during certain hours, often over 8 to 12 hours, and fast for the rest of the day, usually overnight.
Researchers found that people who eat many small meals and snacks throughout the day may be more likely to become overweight or develop diabetes. The common advice to eat three meals a day with snacks in between might not be the best approach.
This is because constant eating keeps your insulin levels high all day, and over time, this can make your body less sensitive to insulin. When that happens, it can lead to type 2 diabetes.
Time-restricted eating, on the other hand, gives your body a break from food. During fasting hours, your insulin and blood sugar levels can drop to healthier ranges.
This may help improve how your body uses insulin, protect your brain, and help control your blood sugar. It can also help you eat fewer calories overall—about 550 fewer calories a day—without needing to count calories.
Eating within a certain time window might also help the good bacteria in your gut. This can lower inflammation and protect against health problems like heart disease and diabetes. It also helps your body control hunger and energy by keeping your hormones in balance.
Keeping a regular eating schedule and eating fewer meals and snacks may protect you from gaining weight or developing type 2 diabetes. Having a healthy breakfast each day also seems important—but not just any breakfast. The study suggests eating foods rich in protein and healthy fats, like eggs, instead of sugary cereals or pastries.
The review also looked at other types of fasting, like not eating for several days at a time. These methods didn’t seem to offer many benefits and may be harder to stick with.
Obesity is a major health issue in the United States. Over 40% of adults are now considered obese. This raises the risk of many diseases, including type 2 diabetes, heart problems, and even some types of cancer.
The researchers believe that obesity can be prevented and that time-restricted eating could be a simple and effective way to help. Of course, everyone is different. How much food someone needs depends on their size and activity level. Still, the study shows that eating fewer, better-quality meals can help those who are at risk.
One more thing to keep in mind is late-night eating. Eating too close to bedtime can disturb your sleep, because your body is still working to digest food. Avoiding food late at night might help improve your overall health and how well you sleep.
If you want to learn more, other studies have looked at how berries can lower the risk of diabetes and cancer, how new drugs are being developed to treat diabetes, and how nutrients like zinc may help manage blood sugar.
If you care about diabetes, please read studies about the cooking connection between potatoes and diabetes, and low calorie diets may help reverse type 2 diabetes.
For more health information, please see recent studies about protein power: a new ally in diabetes management, and pineapple and diabetes: A sweet surprise.
This review was published in the journal Nutrients.
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