A small trial suggests time-restricted eating may help adults with Type 1 diabetes lower blood sugar without increasing major safety risks.
For adults with Type 1 diabetes, limiting food intake to a set eight-hour period each day may offer another way to manage blood sugar without counting calories. A UIC study led by kinesiology and nutrition professor Krista Varady found that time-restricted eating may be both safe and effective for blood sugar control in this population.
“This is the first study to examine the effects of intermittent fasting on people with Type 1 diabetes, and the results are extremely promising,” said Varady, a leading expert on intermittent fasting who conducted some of the first human studies on the subject.
The trial tested three eating strategies
Type 1 diabetes is a chronic condition in which the body produces little or no insulin, and it affects less than 1% of people in the U.S. Varady recruited adults who had Type 1 diabetes and were also classified as obese under the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s body mass index criteria. According to Varady, this group represents about 0.5% of the total U.S. population.
The researchers randomly assigned 32 participants from the Chicago area to follow one of three approaches for six months. One group practiced time-restricted eating, consuming food only between noon and 8 p.m. without counting calories. Another reduced calorie intake by 25%, while a control group made no behavioral changes.
Blood sugar improved without more emergencies
At the end of six months, the time-restricted eating group had lower blood sugar levels than the calorie-counting group. Their HbA1c results decreased by about 0.5% on average.
The eating schedule also did not raise the risk of extremely high or low blood sugar or diabetic ketoacidosis — a life-threatening condition caused by insufficient insulin in the body.
“This is the first step to showing time-restricted eating could be a safe, potentially effective method for people with Type 1 diabetes to manage their blood sugar levels,” Varady said.
“Of course, this is just the first step,” she said. “Anyone making changes to their eating habits, especially those with diabetes, must work closely with their endocrinologist or healthcare provider to find a solution that works for them.”
Varady now hopes to test the findings in larger studies conducted across multiple sites to determine whether the results hold more broadly.
Reference: “Efficacy and Safety of Time-Restricted Eating in Adults With Type 1 Diabetes: A Randomized Controlled Trial” by Mary-Claire Runchey, Sarah Corapi, Vasiliki Pavlou, Sofia Cienfuegos, Shuhao Lin, Mark Ezpeleta, Kelsey Gabel, Lisa Tussing-Humphreys, Vanessa M. Oddo, Shaina J. Alexandria, Julienne Sanchez, Terry Unterman, Lisa S. Chow, Alaina P. Vidmar, Sirimon Reutrakul and Krista A. Varady, 17 August 2026, Diabetes Care.
DOI: 10.2337/dc26-1093
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