ABSTRACT
Obesity is a serious health issue in the US, with a prevalence of 40% in adults.1 Calorie restriction through dietary modification remains the foundation of obesity management; however, traditional dietary modification through low-calorie diets is resource-heavy and shows poor long-term adherence, resulting in subsequent weight regain.2 Alternative lifestyle interventions include meal timing strategies, which consider the interplay between food intake and circadian biology. Meal timing strategies include time-restricted eating (TRE), meal frequency, and 24-hour caloric distribution. All of these are low-cost and easy-to-adopt approaches that may serve as treatment and prevention of metabolic diseases (eg, type 2 diabetes and hypertension). In this systematic review and meta-analysis, Liu et al3 aimed to evaluate the existing evidence and determine the long-term (12 weeks) associations of meal timing strategies with anthropometrics and metabolic outcomes in adults with and without metabolic disease.