In the news: Meal Timing May Hold Health Benefits; Busting the Myth of 10,000 Steps Daily

Dinner at 2:00? Timing of Meals May Matter

A study from University of Alabama researchers first reported in 2016 that coordinating meals with the body’s internal clock seems to be a good strategy for reducing appetite. The researchers think this strategy might be helpful for losing weight or maintaining their weight. (See Staying Healthy, Dec. 2016, www.sbh.com).

Called “early time-restricted feeding”, the idea is to eat 3 meals daily but keep food intake within a shorter daily timeframe to better align with metabolic activities that function more optimally in the morning. 

In the study, overweight participants tried two different meal timing plans: eating meals between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m., then switching to eating meals with same number of calories but over the more traditional time span of 8:am through 8 p.m.

The early eating pattern lowered levels of a hunger hormone and increased fat-burning over the day, though the fat-burning results need to be confirmed in longer studies.

Another study (1), just published and involving the same research team, reports further results of the ‘early time-restricted feeding” strategy. Comparing the two different eating patterns described above, participants on the early time schedule had improved glycemic control by lowering 24-hour glucose levels. This may be due to eating earlier and less time between meals.

The eating pattern also altered expression of circadian clock genes and increased expression of the SIRT1 anti-aging and stress response gene.

The authors suggest that the early eating pattern could have beneficial metabolic and anti-aging effects.

This eating strategy is really a form of intermittent fasting that involves having a longer daily fasting period. Intermittent fasting (a diet cycling between regular periods of eating and fasting) has been linked to lower risks of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and aging.

Hopefully the findings of the current study will hold up when tested for longer periods of time in the future.

Women Benefit from Around 4,000 Steps Daily

The idea that it takes 10,000 steps per day to increase longevity has been ingrained in advice from health professionals and fitness trainers since the mid-1960’s. Many people using pedometers to track their steps aim for that “magic” number. But results of a new Harvard study (2) suggest that a far less daunting amount of steps – as few as 4400 daily – leads to longevity benefits, at least in older women.

In the study, 16,741 women (average age of 72) wore accelerometer devices over a week to track the number of steps taken and the intensity of those steps. The women were divided into 4 groups based on how much they walked during that week. The researchers then followed the women for an average of 4.3 years to see how many died in each of the groups.

Women who took 4,400 steps daily (roughly 2 miles) had lower mortality rates than those walking 2,700 steps per day. There were additional longevity benefits for those who walked more, but those benefits maxed out at around 7,500 daily steps.

The study authors advise not to lower your goal if you already get 10,000 steps per day. They point out that there may be additional benefits such as better quality of life or cognition that weren’t measured in this study. But if you don’t get that many steps, don’t be discouraged. All steps count, not just those taken in walking or other exercising. And, as this study shows, you can reap benefits from a much lower number than 10,000 steps daily.

The researchers also say that they’re continuing to follow the women in this study with the hopes of reporting other outcomes in the future.

References

1. Jamshed H, et al. Early time-restricted feeding Improves 24-hour glucose levels and affects markers of the circadian clock, aging, and autophagy in humans. Nutrients. 11:1234, 2019.
2. Lee I-M, et al. Association of step volume and Intensity with all-cause mortality in older women. JAMA Inter Med. Epub May 29, 2019