Results from a small clinical trial suggest it may be possible to reduce the risk of dementia by eating during fewer hours of the day. The pilot study, which involved a weight-loss program for older women with overweight or obesity, showed modest cognitive improvements among those who limited their daily eating window instead of just reducing their calorie intake.

“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 four hours before going to sleep and reduce food intake to 8–9 hours per day, compared with the usual eating window of 12 hours per day,” said Sue Shapses, Ph.D., RD, DFASN, professor at Rutgers University and Rutgers-RWJ Medical Center and the study’s principal investigator.

Shapses’ group will present the findings at NUTRITION 2026, the flagship annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition, held July 25–28 in National Harbor, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C.