Research

Hormonal

Time-restricted feeding significantly reduces circulating testosterone and IGF-1 levels in resistance-trained males, although this hormonal reduction does not translate to muscle loss or strength deficits in this specific population.

Monitor your strength and body composition, not just blood work. If your TRF protocol lowers your testosterone and IGF-1 but you are still getting stronger and keeping your muscle, the hormonal drop is likely not functionally limiting for you. Do not change your diet based on hormone numbers alone if your performance is stable.

GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
Testosterone and insulin-like growth factor 1 decreased significantly in TRF, with no changes in ND (p=0.0000) in TRF while total leptin decreased (p=0.0397).
Tatiana Moro et al. · Journal of Translational Medicine · 2016

Why this rating

Direct measurement of hormones with statistical significance, but limited generalizability to non-athletes or those with existing hormonal issues.

Source

Effects of eight weeks of time-restricted feeding (16/8) on basal metabolism, maximal strength, body composition, inflammation, and cardiovascular risk factors in resistance-trained males

Tatiana Moro et al. · Journal of Translational Medicine · 2016

DOI 10.1186/s12967-016-1044-0

rct · n=34Cited 718×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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