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woman and food via shutterstock
# the time diet
Eat whatever you want and lose weight*
*As long as you eat it in a 9 to 12 hour window and you’re a mouse.
NEW RESEARCH HAS shown that weight loss can be achieved through restricting the hours of the day that you are eating – regardless of what you eat.
The tests were conducted on mice and looked at how they responded to having the hours in the day they are allowed to eat restricted.
It found that when mice had their eating restricted to less than a 12-hour window, weight loss occurred – regardless of the diet that they were on.
Experiment
Part of the experiment, which was published earlier in the week, looked specifically at mice who were fed a high-fat diet for an eight hour period in a day. This was taken in comparison to mice who were fed the same diet over the course of the day.
It involved over 400 mice with different body types, and regardless of the different variations, time restrictions inevitably resulted in weight loss.
The results of weight loss were also seen on mice who had become obese by eating a high-fat diet over the course of the day and then had their time period altered.
Mice who ate the same number of calories but over a shorter time period were found to have dropped five per cent of their body weight within a few days.
Research
The study was carried out by researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Speaking about the results, Satchidananda Panda, an associate professor at the institute, said, “these days, most of the advice is, ‘You have to change nutrition, you have to eat a healthy diet’.”
But many people don’t have access to healthy diets. So the question is, without access to a healthy diet, can they still practice time-restricted feeding and reap some benefit?
There is no definite proof that the application would work on humans although further testing is anticipated.
Read: Five foods that aren’t helping your fitness regime
Also: This Irish company has produced the new ‘gold standard’ in medical technology
