2022年 · 第16卷第06期

China is one of the countries with the largest number of obese people in the world, and obesity has become a major public health problem in China. Lifestyle interventions are the first-line treatment option for weight loss, but there are few effective lifestyle interventions suitable for obese people in China. Time-limited diet is a simple and feasible means of weight loss. Since ancient times, there have been behaviors such as "not eating after lunch" and "bigu" in China. However, the long-term efficacy and safety of time-limited diet for weight loss in obese people are still unclear. Therefore, the team of Professor Zhang Huijie, Department of Endocrinology, Southern Hospital of Southern Medical University, the Department of Clinical Nutrition, Southern Hospital, and the scientific research team of Zhejiang Noite Health Technology Co., Ltd. carried out a one-year time-limited diet weight loss study. The researchers recruited 139 obese patients aged 18 to 75 years (BMI 28 to 45 kg/m²) participants, divided into a time-restricted diet group (calorie-restricted combined with time-restricted diet) and a calorie-restricted group alone. Participants maintained a balanced dietary pattern of carbohydrate energy supply accounting for 40% to 55%, protein 15% to 20%, and fat 20% to 30%. Over a 12-month period, all participants were asked to follow a calorie-restricted diet ranging from 1 500 to 1 800 kcal/d (1 kcal =4.184 kJ) for men and 1 200 to 1 500 kcal/d for women, while the time-restricted diet group was also asked to eat only from 8:00 to 16:00. The results showed that the mean weight change in the time-limited diet group was-8.0 kg (95%CI: -9.6 to-6.4), the mean weight change in the calorie-restricted group alone was-6.3 kg (95%CI: -7.8 to 4.7), with significant weight loss in both groups, but the difference was not statistically significant (P=0.11）； Waist circumference, body mass index, body fat percentage, lean body mass, blood pressure, and metabolic risk factors decreased in both groups, but the differences were not statistically significant (P>0.05）。 Furthermore, there was no substantial difference in the number of adverse events between the two groups. The researchers said that calorie restriction explains most of the beneficial effects of the time-limited diet regimen, and the results of the trial support the importance of calorie restriction when adhering to the time-limited diet.