Time-restricted eating proved feasible for people with early Huntington’s disease and produced several unexpected biological signals.
A small pilot study suggests that limiting daily eating to a six-to-eight-hour window may influence clinical and biological measures in people with early Huntington’s disease.
Over 12 weeks, 20 participants maintained their body weight and lean muscle mass while researchers recorded improvements in a standard measure of disease severity, a blood marker linked to nerve cell damage, and several measures of mitochondrial function. The study, led by Oregon Health & Science University and published in Nature Metabolism, is the first clinical trial to test time-restricted eating in people with Huntington’s disease.
Changes in disease-related measures
Participants improved by an average of 0.5 points on the composite Unified Huntington’s Disease Rating Scale, or cUHDRS, which measures movement, cognition, and daily function. In early Huntington’s disease, the score typically declines by about one point per year.
Blood levels of neurofilament light, a protein released when nerve cells are damaged, fell by an average of 13%. These levels usually rise as Huntington’s disease progresses.
“We saw a reversal of the trend we would normally expect,” said Russell Wells, a fourth-year OHSU medical student and lead author of the study. “Neurofilament light typically rises as neurodegeneration continues, but after three months we observed a significant decrease. For a pilot study, that was a remarkable finding.”
Participants maintained their weight
Time-restricted eating had raised safety concerns because unintended weight loss is common in Huntington’s disease. Researchers therefore encouraged participants to maintain their usual calorie intake while choosing an eating window that fit their routine, typically between late morning and early evening.
Participants followed the schedule more than five days per week on average, reported few side effects, and maintained both body weight and lean muscle mass. Most adjusted to the schedule within one to two weeks.
“When Russell first brought me the idea, I was skeptical,” said senior author Amie Hiller, M.D., professor of neurology in the OHSU School of Medicine. “Weight loss is a major challenge for many people with Huntington’s disease, so asking them to eat within a limited time window seemed counterintuitive.
“What was exciting about this study is that participants were able to maintain their weight while showing signs that the intervention may be positively affecting the disease itself.”
Mitochondrial function also improved
Researchers also measured mitochondrial activity in participants’ blood cells. Mitochondria produce cellular energy, and impaired mitochondrial function is associated with Huntington’s disease.
Several measures of mitochondrial activity improved after the intervention. One possible explanation is that fasting activates cellular stress responses that make energy production more efficient, although the study was not designed to determine the mechanism.
“One theory is that fasting acts as a mild stressor that prompts cells to become more efficient,” Wells said. “If cells, including brain cells, become better at producing energy and handling stress, they may be more resilient to the disease process.”
Larger trials are needed
The researchers warn that the findings do not prove that time-restricted eating slows Huntington’s disease. The study included only 20 participants, lasted 12 weeks, and did not include a control group.
“This is the first time this approach has been formally studied in people with Huntington’s disease,” Wells said. “We found that participants were able to follow the eating schedule, maintain their weight, and show encouraging improvements in clinical and biological measures that are important in Huntington’s disease. These results suggest time-restricted eating deserves further study in a larger clinical trial.”
The team is seeking funding for a randomized trial comparing time-restricted eating with standard dietary habits. Such a study will be needed to determine whether the observed changes are reproducible and whether they translate into slower disease progression.
Reference: “Effects of time-restricted eating in early-stage Huntington’s disease: a pilot study” by Russell G. Wells, Lee E. Neilson, Andrew W. McHill, Nora E. Gray, Joseph F. Quinn and Amie L. Hiller, 17 September 2026, Nature Metabolism.
DOI: 10.1038/s42255-026-01612-x
The researchers acknowledge the help of the OHSU Oregon Clinical and Translational Research Institute for input on the trial design and OHSU Biostatistics and Design Program for data analysis expertise.
This research was supported by an OHSU Parkinson Center of Oregon pilot award, Department of Veterans Affairs Clinical Science Research and Development Career Development Award-2 (CDA-2) grant CX00253, the Parkinson’s Disease Research, Education, Clinical Center at the VA Portland Health Care System, and by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, through award numbers TL1TR002371 and UL1TR002369. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH or other funders.
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