Does the 16:8 programme help people lose weight and lower heart disease risk?

Time restricted eating as a weight loss intervention in obese adults: A pilot study

Dr Dunja Przulj and her colleagues at Queen Mary, University of London, are studying the 16:8 diet, where people can only eat for 8 hours in a day, to find out if it is a better alternative to current diets. Time-restricted eating requires dieters to consume food only within a specific ‘window’ each day, typically over eight hours, and refrain from any eating outside of this period. This is showing promising results in animals and because it is simple and feasible, it is becoming a popular way of losing weight. In this project, Dr Przulj wants to find out if the ‘16:8’ programme helps people lose weight and reduces the risk of heart disease in areas of high social deprivation. She will monitor the weight, blood pressure and heart disease risk of 50 people on the diet over six weeks. The team will assess their experience on the programme, how easy it was to stick to, and how it compares to other diets. After six weeks and three months, the team will assess weight, blood pressure and heart disease risk again. This project will quickly assess a new weight loss method and will reveal whether a larger trial is worth doing. This programme could ultimately help people lose weight using a simple, safe method, while lowering their risk of heart disease.