譯/莊蕙嘉
科學家發覺限時飲食並無益處
The weight-loss idea is appealing: Limit your eating to a period of six to eight hours each day, during which you can have whatever you want.
這個減重想法很吸引人：限制你每天進食期間為六至八小時，這段時間你可以吃任何你想吃的東西。
Studies in mice seemed to support so-called time-restricted eating, a form of the popular intermittent fasting diet. Small studies of people with obesity suggested it might help shed pounds.
以老鼠做的研究似乎支持這個所謂的限時進食法，一種受歡迎的間歇性斷食法。以肥胖人士所做的小型研究顯示這可能有助減重。
But now, a one-year study in which people followed a low-calorie diet between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. or consumed the same number of calories anytime during the day has failed to find an effect.
但是，現在一項為期一年的研究無法發現其效果，研究中一組人遵循上午八時至下午四時的低卡路里飲食，另一組在一天之內的任何時候攝取相同熱量。
The bottom line, said Dr. Ethan Weiss, a diet researcher at the University of California, San Francisco: "There is no benefit to eating in a narrow window."
舊金山加州大學飲食研究者懷斯博士指出，重點是在「在短時間之內進食沒有效益」。
The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, was led by researchers at Southern Medical University in Guangzhou, China, and included 139 people with obesity. Women ate 1,200 to 1,500 calories a day, and men consumed 1,500 to 1,800 calories daily.
To ensure compliance, participants were required to photograph every bit of food they ate and to keep food diaries.
這項刊載於《新英格蘭醫學期刊》的研究，由中國廣州的南方醫科大學研究者主持，受試者包含139名肥胖人士。女性一天吃進1200至1500大卡，男性則每日攝取1500至1800大卡。為確保遵守規定，受試者被要求拍下他們吃的所有食物，並寫飲食日記。
Both groups lost weight — an average of about 14 to 18 pounds — but there was no significant difference in the amounts of weight lost with either diet strategy. There also were no significant differences between the groups in measures of waist circumference, body fat and lean body mass.
兩個群體都有減輕體重，平均約6.35至8.16公斤，但兩個飲食策略減少的體重量並沒有顯著差異。關於腰圍、體脂和淨體重，兩個群體間也沒有顯著差異。
The scientists also found no differences in such risk factors as blood glucose levels, sensitivity to insulin, blood lipids or blood pressure.
科學家還發現，關於血糖值、胰島素敏感度、血脂或血壓等風險因子，同樣沒有差異。
"These results indicate that caloric intake restriction explained most of the beneficial effects seen with the time-restricted eating regimen," Weiss and his colleagues concluded.
「這些結果顯示，卡路里攝取限制可解釋限時進食法的大多數有益效果。」懷斯和他的同事做出結論。
Christopher Gardner, director of nutrition studies at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, said he wouldn't be surprised if time-restricted eating nonetheless worked on occasion.
史丹福預防研究中心營養研究主任賈德納說，如果限時進食法偶爾也能發揮效果，他不會感到驚訝。
"Almost every type of diet out there works for some people," he said. "But the take-home supported by this new research is that when subjected to a properly designed and conducted study — scientific investigation — it is not any more helpful than simply reducing daily calorie intake for weight loss and health factors."
「幾乎市面上所有飲食法都能對一些人有效」，他說，「但是這項新研究，一個正確設計且執行的研究，也就是科學調查，其支持的論點是，在減重和健康因素下，沒有什麼比單純減少每日熱量攝取更有幫助」。
