Overview
- A six-month randomized pilot trial of 47 women aged 50 to 79 was presented July 26 at NUTRITION 2026 and tested an 8–9 hour daily eating window against a roughly 12-hour window while all participants cut 500 calories per day.
- Both groups lost about 15 pounds on average, which shows the cognitive differences were not explained by weight loss alone.
- Women in the time-restricted group performed significantly better on tests of spatial planning and problem solving and made fewer errors on some memory and learning tasks, while multitasking and reaction time were unchanged.
- Investigators described the results as preliminary because the data were presented as a conference poster and have not undergone full journal peer review, and they are planning larger, peer-reviewed and mechanistic studies to confirm the effects.
- Researchers suggest benefits may come from aligning eating with circadian rhythms and downstream changes in nutrient sensing, inflammation, and metabolism, and say larger, more diverse trials are needed before changing public guidance.