The four-hour eating rule to ‘slash dementia risk’ – AND lose 7kg in 6 months

EATING all your food in an eight to nine hour window each day could reduce your risk of dementia, a study has suggested. What’s more, stopping eating four hours before going to sleep may also be linked to a reduced risk of developing the disease. Eating all your food in an eight to nine hour window each day could reduce your risk of dementia Credit: Getty Deciding to stop eating four hours before sleep could also help reduce people’s dementia risk Credit: Getty Losing weight has been linked to lower rates of neurodegenerative decline – the progressive loss of neurons which damages the brain – in later life. But losing weight by only eating within certain hours of the day could further lower the rates of this decline, according to researchers at Rutgers University, New Jersey, US. Sign up for the Health newsletter Thank you! In a small trial of 47 women who were classed as overweight or obese, half reduced their daily calorie intake by 500 and only ate between roughly 10am and 6pm – an average eating window of 8.2 hours. After six months, they had lost an average of 6.8kg – just over two stone. The other half of the participants also reduced their daily calorie intake by the same amount, but they were allowed to eat over a typical 12.3 hour period. These women also lost the same average amount of weight, but interestingly they did not perform as well on cognitive tests. The results, which were presented at the American Society for Nutrition’s annual conference in Maryland over the weekend, showed that those who stopped eating by 6pm scored higher on memory, problem-solving and spatial-thinking tests. The authors claimed this suggested that it “may be possible to reduce your risk of dementia by eating during fewer hours of the day”. Most read in Health But they noted that the results showed there was no significant difference in the women’s performance – who were all aged between 50 and 79 – on multitasking or reaction time tests. Over 980,000 people are thought to be living with dementia in the UK, with the number predicted to rise to over 1.4 million by 2040. Dementia is the name for a group of symptoms associated with an ongoing decline in brain functioning. It can affect memory, thinking skills and other mental abilities. The early stages of dementia DEMENTIA is not a single condition. It is caused by different physical diseases of the brain – like Alzheimer’s, vascular dementia and DLB. More than 944,000 people in the UK currently have it. And no matter the type, it affects everyone differently. The first signs of it are often mild and easy to brush off, but can include: Memory problems (e.g. being unable to recall recent events or losing keys) Planning and thinking difficulties (e.g. finding complex decisions about finances hard) Language and communication trouble (e.g. struggling to find the right word) Poor orientation (e.g. getting lost easily in familiar areas) Visual-perceptual difficulties (e.g. problems judging distances) Changes in mood or emotion (e.g. feeling anxious or frightened or getting easily upset) “Many people at the early stage of dementia stay largely independent and only need a bit of assistance with daily living,” Alzheimer’s UK says. “It is important to focus on what the person can do and not to take over and do things for them. “Instead, try doing things with them, for example helping the person develop a routine, reminder lists and prompts, and use technology.” Because dementia is progressive, it gets worse over time, usually over several years. Experts generally think of it in three stages: Early stage (mild) Middle stage (moderate) Late stage (severe) “These stages can be used to understand how dementia is likely to change over time, and to help people prepare for the future,” the charity adds. “The stages also act as a guide to when certain treatments, such as medicines for Alzheimer’s disease, are likely to work best.” Most people who develop dementia are over the age of 65. Anyone diagnosed before this is considered to have young-onset dementia, which affects about 70,800 people in the UK. According to the NHS, Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia in the UK. Commenting on the study, Dr Sue Shapses, a professor at Rutgers University who led the study, said: “Losing weight alone will ward off some of the ageing-related cognitive decline.” But this data suggests “that there may be additional benefits if you stop eating four hours prior to going to sleep and reduce food intake to 8-9 hours per day, compared to the usual eating window of 12 hours per day”, she said. Dr Shapses added: “These outcomes suggest a better ability to remember information during everyday tasks and reducing mistakes related to memory, attention and problem-solving. “Reductions in the eating window predicted greater improvements.” The researchers said that eating patterns may play a role in affecting the circadian rhythms that govern the body’s sleep, body temperature and hormone release. But they said that further studies in larger groups on intermittent fasting are now needed to confirm these findings. Intermittent fasting is a type of eating pattern that involves restricting when you can eat to a certain time window. The idea behind intermittent fasting is that it gives your body a break from digesting food, potentially leading to consuming fewer calories than if you were eating more regularly, according to Bupa. According to The Times, researchers said: “Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia have become more prevalent as populations age, and women and people who are overweight or obese tend to face a higher likelihood of developing these conditions. “Diet and other lifestyle factors have been linked to dementia risk, but few studies have examined whether modifying these factors can reduce that risk.” Comment now