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Time-Restricted Eating to Improve Cardiovascular Health

Current Atherosclerosis Reports volume 23, Article number: 22 (2021) Cite this article

Abstract

Purpose of Review

Time-restricted eating (TRE) is a form of intermittent fasting that involves confining the eating window to 4–10 h and fasting for the remaining hours of the day. The purpose of this review is to summarize the current literature pertaining to the effects of TRE on body weight and cardiovascular disease risk factors.

Recent Findings

Human trial findings show that TRE reduces body weight by 1–4% after 1–16 weeks in individuals with obesity, relative to controls with no meal timing restrictions. This weight loss results from unintentional reductions in energy intake (~350–500 kcal/day) that occurs when participants confine their eating windows to 4–10 h/day. TRE is also effective in lowering fat mass, blood pressure, triglyceride levels, and markers of oxidative stress, versus controls. This fasting regimen is safe and produces few adverse events.

Summary

These findings suggest that TRE is a safe diet therapy that produces mild reductions in body weight and also lowers several key indicators of cardiovascular disease in participants with obesity.

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Funding

This review was supported in part by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (grant no. R01DK119783).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1919 West Taylor Street, Room 532, Chicago, IL, 60612, USA

    Kelsey Gabel, Sofia Cienfuegos, Faiza Kalam, Mark Ezpeleta & Krista A. Varady

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  1. Kelsey Gabel
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  2. Sofia Cienfuegos
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Correspondence to Krista A. Varady.

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Gabel, K., Cienfuegos, S., Kalam, F. et al. Time-Restricted Eating to Improve Cardiovascular Health. Curr Atheroscler Rep 23, 22 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11883-021-00922-7

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Keywords

  • Intermittent fasting
  • Time-restricted eating
  • Cardiovascular disease
  • Body weight
  • Cholesterol
  • Blood pressure