By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2026-07-27 17:21:05 | Updated at 2026-07-27 20:54:24
3 hours ago
Restricting your eating to just eight hours a day and having no food after 6pm could slash your risk of suffering from dementia, new research suggests.
In a recent study, researchers at Rutgers University in New Jersey recruited overweight or obese women over 50 years old and put them on a diet plan.
All participants were told to reduce their food intake by 500 calories per day, but half were also told to eat in a time restricted window, also known as intermittent fasting.
After six months, both groups had lost 15lbs (6.8kg), but those who only ate between 10am and 6pm had significant improvements on memory and learning tests.
Further examination showed they also had improved spatial planning and problem solving skills compared to those who ate when they wanted.
Researchers said the results suggested it 'may be possible to reduce the risk of dementia by eating during fewer hours of the day.'
Dr Sue Shapses, a nutritionist who led the study, said: 'Losing weight alone will ward off some of the aging-related cognitive decline.
'[But] these data suggest there may be additional benefits if you stop eating four hours before going to sleep and reduce food intake to eight to nine hours per day, compared with the usual eating window of 12 hours per day.'
Intermittent fasting may reduce your risk of dementia, according to a small study
About seven million Americans have dementia currently, but this is expected to nearly double over the next 25 years to 13 million, estimates suggest.
Alzheimer's disease is the sixth leading cause of death in America, tied to 116,000 fatalities every year. Globally, it is the seventh leading cause.
In the UK, nearly a million people are estimated to have dementia. That number is set to double over the same period to two million.
Time-restricted eating, or intermittent fasting, is a dietary habit where a person limits their caloric intake to either certain hours of the day or days of the week in order to lose weight and control eating habits.
Popular iterations include the 14:10 plan – where a person only eats within a 10-hour window – and the 5:2 – where someone eats five days a week and fasts for two.
The meal plans took off in the 2010s, popularized by celebrities such as Jennifer Aniston and Mark Wahlberg. Today, an estimated one in 10 Americans follows the diet.
Some experts say the plans help someone to lose weight and curb hunger, while others have raised concerns that it can lead to muscle loss, a nutritional deficiency and low mood.
The new study was presented at NUTRITION 2026, the annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition held earlier this month in Maryland.
Jennifer Aniston previously said that she uses intermittent fasting, saying in 2019 that she only drinks water in the mornings or delays her first meal until midday
In the research, the 47 participants were between 50 and 79 years old.
Those in the time-restricted eating group were told to eat for no more than nine hours per day.
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Overall, they ate for an average of eight hours and 12 minutes per day. For comparison, those in the non-time restricted eating group ate for 12 hours and 18 minutes.
Cognitive tests showed broad improvements in the restricted eating group, but there was no significant difference between the two on multitasking and reaction times.
Shapses added: 'There was a modest effect of time-restricted eating to improve spatial planning and problem-solving and on reducing errors related to memory and learning.
'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.'
It was not clear why time-restricted eating may have boosted brain health, but previous research has suggested that it may trigger neuroprotective processes in the brain.
Previous research has also suggested that eating shortly before bedtime can disrupt sleep, which is considered vital for helping to prevent dementia.
The study was small and detected an association. It did not prove that time restricted eating slashed the risk of dementia.
The researchers said that further larger studies were needed to confirm the results.
They are now planning to investigate the mechanisms that might explain the possible benefits of time-restricted eating, such as the interactions between circadian rhythm, nutrient-sensing pathways, inflammation and metabolic health.
