Prolonged Overnight Fast, Energy Metabolism and Skeletal Muscle Anabolic Sensitivity

NCT05420181 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 289-1904
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 9
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Recent research shows that timing of nutritional intake and daily periods of fasting may have important health effects. In humans, limiting daily food intake to a narrow window (typically \~8 hours) can bring about some beneficial changes in blood concentrations of fats, sugar and the hormone insulin. It is thought that many of these changes are due to the prolonged daily fasting periods and humans will have regularly experienced prolonged fasting periods throughout evolution. In the modern era, food access is widely available and it is not uncommon for the time between breakfast and a late night snack to exceed 14 hours. We have recently shown that extending habitual daily periods of fasting to 16 hours per day also improves the ability of skeletal muscle to take up amino acids, the building blocks of protein. We are interested in studying whether a single episode of prolonged overnight fast (\~16 hours), when compared to a normal overnight fast of 10 hours, is sufficient to stimulate skeletal muscle protein synthesis in response to dietary protein ingestion in healthy humans.

Conditions

Time Restricted Feeding

Keywords

Energy metabolism; skeletal muscle; protein synthesis

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (5)

• Whole body Insulin sensitivity

  Postprandial blood glucose and serum insulin concentrations will be used to compute the Matsuda index of whole body insulin sensitivity. Postprandial blood glucose and serum insulin concentrations will be measured every 15mins for 3 hours in response to ingestion of a protein and dextrose drink. Serum insulin concentration (mIU/l) will be measured either with an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay or a radioimmuno assay. Blood glucose will be measured using the glucose oxidase method.

  3 hours

• Glycemic responses

  Postprandial blood glucose incremental area under the curve( iAUC)

  3 hours

• Insulinaemic responses

  Postprandial blood insulin iAUC

  3 hours

• Index of skeletal muscle protein synthesis (A)

  Skeletal muscle branched chain amino acid uptake using postprandial arteriovenous differences.

  3 hours

• Index of skeletal muscle protein synthesis (B)

  Muscle protein synthesis will be measured 3 hours after ingestion of a protein and dextrose drink in which the milk protein has been intrinsically labelled with \[1-13C\]phenylalanine. The investigators will measure \[13C\]phenylalanine incorporation into the muscle myofibrillar protein pool during the 3 hour period from a muscle biopsy sample taken pre ingestion of the drink and a muscle biopsy taken 3 hours post ingestion. This will give a rate (%/hour) of muscle protein synthesis.

  3 hours

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Skeletal muscle insulin sensitivity

  3 hours

Study Arms (2)

Short Fast

OTHER

Participants will fast overnight for a period of 10 hours

Other: Short 10hr fast

Long fast

OTHER

Participants will fast overnight for a period of 16 hours

Other: Long 16h fast

Interventions

Short 10hr fast OTHER

Participants will fast from 11pm the night before the study day

Short Fast

Long 16h fast OTHER

Participants will fast from 5pm the night before the study day

Long fast

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 35 Years
• Sex: male
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• Male
• yrs
• healthy
• non-smoking
• physically active
• no excessive weight loss in past 6 months
• body mass index between 18 and 27 kg.m-2

You may not qualify if:

• body mass index under 18 and over 27 kg.m-2
• sedentary
• screening bloods out of range
• excessive weight loss in the past 6 months
• irregular eating patterns

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Nottingham: lead

Study Sites (1)

University of Nottingham

Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, NG7 2UH, United Kingdom

Location

Related Publications (5)

• Hatori M, Vollmers C, Zarrinpar A, DiTacchio L, Bushong EA, Gill S, Leblanc M, Chaix A, Joens M, Fitzpatrick JA, Ellisman MH, Panda S. Time-restricted feeding without reducing caloric intake prevents metabolic diseases in mice fed a high-fat diet. Cell Metab. 2012 Jun 6;15(6):848-60. doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2012.04.019. Epub 2012 May 17.

  PMID: 22608008 BACKGROUND

• Chaix A, Zarrinpar A, Miu P, Panda S. Time-restricted feeding is a preventative and therapeutic intervention against diverse nutritional challenges. Cell Metab. 2014 Dec 2;20(6):991-1005. doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2014.11.001.

  PMID: 25470547 BACKGROUND

• Moro T, Tinsley G, Bianco A, Marcolin G, Pacelli QF, Battaglia G, Palma A, Gentil P, Neri M, Paoli A. Effects of eight weeks of time-restricted feeding (16/8) on basal metabolism, maximal strength, body composition, inflammation, and cardiovascular risk factors in resistance-trained males. J Transl Med. 2016 Oct 13;14(1):290. doi: 10.1186/s12967-016-1044-0.

  PMID: 27737674 BACKGROUND

• Sutton EF, Beyl R, Early KS, Cefalu WT, Ravussin E, Peterson CM. Early Time-Restricted Feeding Improves Insulin Sensitivity, Blood Pressure, and Oxidative Stress Even without Weight Loss in Men with Prediabetes. Cell Metab. 2018 Jun 5;27(6):1212-1221.e3. doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2018.04.010. Epub 2018 May 10.

  PMID: 29754952 BACKGROUND

• Jones R, Pabla P, Mallinson J, Nixon A, Taylor T, Bennett A, Tsintzas K. Two weeks of early time-restricted feeding (eTRF) improves skeletal muscle insulin and anabolic sensitivity in healthy men. Am J Clin Nutr. 2020 Oct 1;112(4):1015-1028. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/nqaa192.

  PMID: 32729615 BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Intermittent Fasting

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Fasting; Feeding Behavior; Behavior

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Purpose: BASIC SCIENCE
• Intervention Model: CROSSOVER
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Professor of Human Physiology

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: April 8, 2022
• First Posted: June 15, 2022
• Study Start: May 30, 2019
• Primary Completion: March 19, 2024
• Study Completion: March 19, 2024
• Last Updated: November 24, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-11

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

GB (1)