Effect of 4-h time restricted feeding on body weight, leptin concentration and lipid profile in healthy non-obese male Wistar rats

Abstract Background: Obesity greatly increases the risk of metabolic diseases and preventive approaches for obesity are often inadequate to effectively prevent and manage the diseases. Altering feeding time strategy intervention decreases caloric intake without calorie counting and may be an effective therapy. Therefore, this study investigates the effect of 4-h time restricted feeding on body weight, leptin concentration and lipid profile in healthy non-obese male Wistar rats. Methods: Rats placed on time-restricted feeding (TRF) regimen had freely access to food for 4 hour per day at designated periods. Twenty four rats divided into four groups (n=6) were used. Group I animals were placed on a 4 hour per day TRF between 8am-12noon. Group II rats were also placed on a 4 hour per day TRF between 12noon-4pm. Group III rats also placed on a 4 hour per day TRF between 8pm-12 midnight while Group IV rats had access food and water ad libitum. This diet strategy resembles taking only breakfast, lunch or dinner once a day. The study lasted for a period of 4 weeks with daily food intake and weekly body weight determined throughout the period. At the end of the experimental period, blood glucose, lipid profile and leptin concentration were assessed. SPSS 21.0 package was used for data analysis, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare the mean values of variables among the groups and bonferroni’s posthoc test was used for significance of pair wise comparisons of mean values among the groups. Significance was set at p < 0.05.Results: In this study, the body weights and leptin concentrations of 8pm – 12am and ad libitum groups significantly increased compared with the 8am - 12noon and 12noon -4pm groups. Dyslipidemia was observed in the ad libitum group when compared with the 8am - 12noon and 12noon - 4pm groups. Conclusion: From this study, 4-hr time restricted feeding has beneficial effects on body weight, blood glucose, lipid profile and leptin concentration. This feeding restriction patterns may be helpful in obesity management and in preventing metabolic diseases development in non obese.