Limiting Meal Hours May Improve Cognitive Function in Older Adults

A pilot study presented at NUTRITION 2026 found that older women who restricted their eating window to less than nine hours a day showed modest improvements in spatial planning and problem-solving compared to those who maintained a habitual period of approximately 12 hours. The study included 47 women between the ages of 50 and 79 with overweight or obesity, who were instructed to reduce their daily energy intake by 500 calories. Both groups lost a similar amount of weight after six months. The women who limited their meal hours also showed a trend to make fewer errors in tests related to memory and learning. The results suggest possible additional benefits when a person stops eating four hours before sleeping and concentrates food intake in a period of between eight and nine hours daily.