Prof Grant Schofield takes a couple minutes to break down a study highlighting some of the health benefits achieved through fasting.

Some of the key takeaways from the study were:

  • The daily eating pattern in healthy adults is highly variable from day to day
  • More than half of the adults eat for 15 hr or longer every day
  • Sleep duration parallels the fasting duration
  • Reducing the daily eating duration can contribute to weight loss and increased energy levels

Summary: A diurnal rhythm of eating-fasting promotes health, but the eating pattern of humans is rarely assessed. Using a mobile app, we monitored ingestion events in healthy adults with no shift-work for several days. Most subjects ate frequently and erratically throughout wakeful hours, and overnight fasting duration paralleled time in bed. There was a bias toward eating late, with an estimated <25% of calories being consumed before noon and >35% after 6 p.m. “Metabolic jetlag” resulting from weekday/weekend variation in eating pattern akin to travel across time zones was prevalent. The daily intake duration (95% interval) exceeded 14.75 hr for half of the cohort. When overweight individuals with >14 hr eating duration ate for only 10–11 hr daily for 16 weeks assisted by a data visualization (raster plot of dietary intake pattern, “feedogram”) that we developed, they reduced body weight, reported being energetic, and improved sleep. Benefits persisted for a year.

Prevention is cure podcast with Prof Grant Schofield

INTERESTED IN LEARNING MORE?

Explore the science and practice of fasting with our online course: PK203 and learn about:

  • The 10 Rules of Fasting
  • Cell Regeneration & Autophagy
  • Detox, Growth Hormones, Energy Balance & Burning
  • Hormesis, Immunity & Ketones
  • Insulin & Glucose as it Relates to Fasting
  • The Scientific Loose Ends Around Fasting