Time-Restricted Eating Has No Impact on Sex Steroids in Women

THURSDAY, Oct. 27, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Sex steroid levels remain largely unchanged with short-term time-restricted eating (TRE) among women, according to a study published online Oct. 6 in Obesity.

Faiza Kalam, Ph.D., from Northwestern University in Chicago, and colleagues conducted a secondary analysis of an eight-week TRE study conducted in adults with obesity. After exclusion of men and perimenopausal women, the remaining women were classified as premenopausal or postmenopausal (12 and 11, respectively).

The researchers found that body weight decreased in premenopausal and postmenopausal women (−3 ± 2 percent and −4 ± 2 percent, respectively) after eight weeks, with no difference observed between the groups. No change was seen in circulating levels of testosterone, androstenedione, or sex hormone-binding globulin in either group. In premenopausal and postmenopausal women, decreases were seen in dehydroepiandrosterone concentrations (−14 ± 32 percent and −13 ± 34 percent, respectively), with no difference observed between the groups. No changes were seen in estradiol, estrone, or progesterone, which were only measured in postmenopausal women.

“This secondary analysis suggests that short-term TRE, which produces minimal weight loss (3 to 4 percent), has little effect on sex steroid levels in premenopausal or postmenopausal females with obesity,” the authors write.

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