THURSDAY, Sept. 24, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- Time-restricted eating (TRE) is feasible, safe, and linked to improvements in disease markers of Huntington disease (HD), according to a pilot study published online Sept. 17 in Nature Metabolism.
Russell G. Wells, from the Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, and colleagues conducted a 12-week open-label pilot trial of eight-hour TRE alongside standard-of-care diet and activity recommendations in 20 individuals with early-stage HD. Participants selected an eating window that fit their daily routine.
The researchers found that TRE is feasible, well tolerated, and associated with beneficial changes in clinical measures of HD. Participants experienced an average improvement of 0.5 points on the composite Unified Huntington’s Disease Rating Scale. Additionally, blood levels of neurofilament light protein declined by an average of 12.6 ± 15.9 percent. There were also improvements in several measures of mitochondrial activity following the intervention.
"This is the first time this approach has been formally studied in people with Huntington’s disease," Wells said in a statement. "We found that participants were able to follow the eating schedule, maintain their weight and show encouraging improvements in clinical and biological measures that are important in Huntington’s disease. These results suggest time-restricted eating deserves further study in a larger clinical trial."
