Helping our heroes: Time-restricted eating improves health of firefighters: Salk Institute and UC San Diego Health clinical trial shows how lifestyle intervention can improve cardiovascular health in shift workers

Firefighters are the heroes of our society, protecting us around the clock. But those 24-hour shifts are hard on the body and increase the risk of cardiometabolic diseases, such as heart disease and diabetes, as well as cancer. In collaboration with the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department, scientists from the Salk Institute and UC San Diego Health conducted a clinical trial and found that time-restricted eating improved measures of health and wellbeing in firefighters. The lifestyle intervention only required the firefighters to eat during a 10-hour window and did not involve skipping meals.

The new findings, published in Cell Metabolism on October 4, 2022, may also have implications for shift workers, such as military personnel; health care, food service, and transportation professionals; telecommunications staff; and new parents, whose schedules often mimic shift work when caring for a new baby.

“Doctors and researchers are always thinking about the magic pill that can cure or reduce disease. Our study showed that shift workers with high blood pressure, blood sugar, or cholesterol can benefit from a simple lifestyle intervention called time-restricted eating,” says Salk Professor Satchidananda Panda, co-corresponding author of the study and holder of the Rita and Richard Atkinson Chair. “It’s not a pill, but a healthy habit that can significantly reduce these three risks of disease without any adverse side effects.”

Almost every cell in the body has a 24-hour biological clock that produces circadian (daily) rhythms. These rhythms regulate behavior (e.g., when to be active and when to rest) and physiology (e.g., blood pressure, blood sugar, muscle function). Circadian rhythms coordinate with the environment in part by regular, timed cycles of light and dark and eating and fasting. Disruptions to these cycles, which can occur with shift work, can impact health, leading to obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.

Nearly 30 percent of Americans are considered shift workers, in which the individual must stay awake for two to three hours between 10:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. for at least 50 days a year. Increasing sleep and reducing calorie intake are often difficult, but previous studies have suggested that time-restricted eating (eating within a certain window of time) may offer a simple behavioral change to improve health.

“We were excited to participate in this clinical trial because our department is always looking for innovative ways to improve the health of our firefighters,” says San Diego Fire-Rescue Health and Safety Battalion Chief David Picone.

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