A social media trend urging people to finish dinner by 5 p.m. is getting a second look from doctors, after a randomized trial found that adults who confined their eating to an eight-hour daily window for 12 weeks kept off several more pounds a full year later, compared to those who ate on a normal schedule.
Videos on the “Early Bird Dinner” trend have dominated social media in recent months, and restaurants have reported a shift toward earlier reservations. Media outlets, meanwhile, have queried whether the habit delivers sleep benefits or other health perks.
About 40% of U.S. adults have obesity, which raises the risk of Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For many, the “Early Bird Dinner” trend offers a low-risk experiment: an earlier plate, a calmer stomach and possibly a better night’s sleep.
Researchers in Granada, Spain, randomly assigned 99 adults with overweight or obesity to one of four groups: Three limited all eating to an eight-hour window, starting early in the day, starting late, or at a time each participant picked. The fourth kept its usual schedule of 12 hours or more. Every group, including the comparison group, also went through a Mediterranean diet education program.
After 12 weeks, participants went back to living normally. A year later, the early and late groups had kept off roughly 5 to 6 pounds more than the comparison group. Only the early group held onto a significant reduction in fat mass.
The early group’s window is strikingly close to what the social media trend prescribes: Participants typically ate between about 9:30 a.m. and 5:15 p.m.
Doctors have cautioned against reading too much into a single trial.