An 8‑hour time‑restricted eating window produced modestly greater weight loss than longer windows, but showed no consistent blood‑pressure or cardiometabolic benefits.
A pooled analysis of five prior time‑restricted eating (TRE) studies involving 124 participants compared 8‑hour, 10‑hour, and 12‑hour eating windows with a control group. Participants assigned to an 8‑hour window lost an average of 3.7 pounds more than those in the 12‑hour group and significantly more than controls, while overall TRE participants lost about 4.8 pounds.
The researchers did not find consistent associations between eating‑window length and changes in fasting glucose, HDL or LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, or most blood‑pressure measures. The only significant cardiometabolic difference was a greater reduction in systolic blood pressure for the 10‑hour group compared with the 12‑hour group.
Limitations noted include the small sample size, short follow‑up (3–6 months), lack of direct randomisation to specific window lengths, and incomplete data on calorie intake. The five trials were not all randomized controlled trials.
Experts not involved in the study, including Dr. Cheng‑Han Chen and Dr. Mir Ali, emphasized that the findings are preliminary, cautioning that larger, longer‑duration studies are needed to confirm weight‑loss benefits and to determine any broader health effects of TRE.