New Study: Intermittent Fasting Lowers Blood Sugar in Type 1 Diabetes

SciTechDaily covers a small randomized trial from the University of Illinois Chicago testing whether time-restricted eating can help adults with type 1 diabetes manage blood sugar. The study was led by Krista Varady, a kinesiology and nutrition professor known for research on intermittent fasting. The trial enrolled 32 adults from the Chicago area who had type 1 diabetes and obesity, then assigned them for six months to one of three groups: eating only within an eight-hour daily window from noon to 8 p.m., reducing calories by 25%, or making no behavioral change.

The key finding was that the time-restricted eating group had better blood sugar results than the calorie-counting group by the end of the trial. Average HbA1c fell by about 0.5%. Just as important, the study did not find an increased risk of severe high blood sugar, severe low blood sugar, or diabetic ketoacidosis in the time-restricted eating group. That safety point matters because fasting approaches can be risky for people using insulin if not medically supervised.

The article is careful about scale: this was a small first study, not a broad clinical recommendation. Varady emphasized that people with diabetes should work with an endocrinologist or healthcare provider before making eating changes. The study’s importance is that it opens a research path for a simple behavioral intervention that may help some adults with type 1 diabetes and obesity improve glycemic control, but it needs larger, multi-site trials before clinicians can know who benefits, who is at risk, and how to implement it safely.