In a six-month study of 47 older adults, researchers found that women who practiced time-restricted eating achieved significantly greater improvements in executive skills—such as planning, organizing, and problem-solving—than those who ate across a traditional 12-hour window, even though both groups lost the exact same amount of weight.
The research was presented at NUTRITION 2026, the annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition. Scientists investigated whether reducing the number of hours people spend eating each day could influence brain function among older adults.
The six-month clinical trial involved 47 women between the ages of 50 and 79 who were living with overweight or obesity. All participants were instructed to reduce their daily calorie intake by about 500 calories.
Researchers divided the women into two groups. One group followed a time-restricted eating schedule, consuming food within an eight to nine-hour window each day, while the other group continued eating within a longer period of more than 12 hours.
At the end of the study, both groups experienced similar weight loss, with participants losing an average of about 15 pounds. However, researchers found key differences in cognitive performance between the two groups.
Women who followed the shorter eating window showed greater improvements in executive function, including skills related to planning, organizing, and problem-solving.
Participants following the time-restricted eating schedule also made fewer errors on tests measuring memory and learning, though that specific improvement was not statistically significant. The study found no significant differences between the two groups in reaction time or multitasking abilities.
According to the researchers, the findings indicate that reducing the daily eating window may provide cognitive benefits beyond weight loss alone. The study also suggested that avoiding food for at least four hours before bedtime may be associated with improvements in thinking abilities.
'Losing weight alone will ward off some of the aging-related cognitive decline, and these data suggest that there may be additional benefits if you stop eating 4 hours prior to going to sleep and reduce food intake to 8–9 hours per day,' said lead researcher Sue Shapses, a professor at Rutgers University and Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.
The researchers noted that more studies are needed to better understand how time-restricted eating influences cognitive function and whether the findings apply to broader populations. Future research will examine the effects of meal timing on brain health, including possible links with the body's internal clock, metabolism, inflammation, and nutrient-sensing pathways.
