The Feasibility of Early Time-Restricted Eating in a Student Population

There were over 2.3 million students registered at Higher Education institutes in the UK. Early adulthood is a critical time for establishing self-care habits which will ultimately influence health outcomes later in adulthood and studies suggest that the overall health of students is poor relative to that of their age-matched peers not in education. Therefore, the investigators would like to assess the feasibility of adopting a novel, nutritional intervention in this important, understudied population.

Previous research has shown Early Time-Restricted Eating can reduce daily energy consumed and improve markers of health over time, in a range of populations. Therefore, the investigators are investigating how often participants can eat within an early 8 hour eating window, starting no earlier than 8am (finishing calorie intake by 4pm), or no later than 10am (finishing calorie intake by 6pm). The investigators will be measuring how often the participants can adhere to this eating window between Monday to Friday, with the study lasting 4 weeks in total. This is a feasibility study, so this study will investigate whether this intervention is achievable and what social barriers may exist which reduce adherence to this eating window. Participants will visit the laboratory on 3 occasions (at the start, halfway point, and at the end of the intervention) to measure any changes in health markers across the intervention. The lab visits will involve providing a finger-tip blood sample, and measuring body mass, blood pressure, and waist-to-hip circumference. Outside of the laboratory, participants are required to record their eating window on a mobile app and an investigator-created trial sheet. Further measures outside of the laboratory will include a weekly questionnaire and motivational correspondence via mobile text message.