Does Intermittent Fasting Lead to Evening Binging?
Time-restricted feeding offers benefits for weight loss, but it is not superior to other calorie-restriction diets, according to a presenter at the ACP Internal Medicine Meeting. Michelle E. Hauser, MD, MS, MPA, FACP, FACLM, a clinical associate professor and director of the weight management program at Stanford University and creator of a weight management program that is used in multiple states in the Veterans Affairs system, addressed the “hot topic” of time-restricted feeding — otherwise known as intermittent fasting.
“Time-restricted feeding is the technical term,” said Hauser, who is also a chef. “That just means that all of your calorie intake is confined to a specified timeframe.” Though the most common timeframe is 8 hours, it can vary to as few as 4 hours or as many as 10. There are variations of the diet, like early time-restricted feeding, which is just a shift in the timeframe, and alternate-day fasting.
“There are a lot of studies comparing time-restricted feeding to a control diet or usual care. Most of those studies do show that there’s weight loss associated with that,” Hauser said. “However, when they include arms where they’re comparing to a calorie-restricted diet that’s not time-restricted, then there doesn’t tend to be a benefit over that.”
Excerpted from Healio
