Skip to content

Time-Restricted Eating and Bipolar Disorder

Time-Restricted Eating as an Adjunctive Intervention for Bipolar Disorder: Acceptability and Feasibility

Status
Terminated
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT06105294
Enrollment
1
Registered
2023-10-27
Start date
2023-06-01
Completion date
2023-07-31
Last updated
2023-10-27

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Bipolar Disorder

Keywords

eating, circadian

Brief summary

This is a pilot trial to examine the acceptability and feasibility of time-restricted eating as an adjunct to medication treatment for bipolar disorder.

Detailed description

Time-restricted eating (TRE) is a way of scheduling food intake that has been shown to improve circadian rhythms in animals and humans. TRE is based on animal and human science that shows that the timing of eating powerfully influences diurnal rhythms. Animal research has shown that feeding during sleep periods leads to a surge of norepinephrine, cortisol, wakefulness, and activity. Drawing on this, over a decade of studies have examined the impact of experimentally randomizing mice to time-restricted feeding during wake hours (vs. 24-hour ad libitum feeding). Importantly, caloric intake and other facets of diet were yoked for strict control. A consistent finding is that TRE had powerful benefits for circadian and metabolic indicators across studies,and more recent data also shows benefit for animal longevity. Here, the investigators' goal is to extend this work to bipolar disorder (BD). More specifically, the investigators will gather data to examine the acceptability and feasibility of TRE among those who self-identify with bipolar disorder and who experience some problems with sleep, circadian rhythms, or schedules. The investigators will gather measures of mania, depression, sleep, and QOL, to provide preliminary evidence of change on these dimensions.

Interventions

BEHAVIORALtime-restricted eating

Restrict eating to a 10-hour window.

Sponsors

University of California, Berkeley
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE

Intervention model description

Participants will take part in a baseline assessment, then all will be assigned to time-restricted eating.

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 65 Years
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

* adults diagnosed with bipolar disorder and currently receiving medical care for their bipolar disorder. * Experiencing schedule/sleep or circadian problem in the past 3 months * Medication regimens stable for past month * Adequate English language skills for taking part in the program. * Living in California.

Exclusion criteria

* Cognitive deficits (Screening OMC Test) * Current: psychosis, (hypo)mania, major depressive episode, substance/alcohol use disorders, eating disorder diagnoses or acute suicidal risk (MINI interview; see DSM5 TRE screening) * High scores (\> 5) on the Screening Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire * Current shift work * \>5 kg weight change within 3 months * Pregnancy * Breastfeeding * Uncorrected hypo or hyperthyroidism \* diabetes type 1 * Gastrointestinal conditions impairing nutrient absorption * Medications contraindicated for fasting, including clozapine, glucose-lowering medications, diabetes-related injections, requiring food early morning or late evening, corticosteroids.

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Acceptability as assessed using self-ratings on items designed for this studyImmediately post-treatment (10 weeks)self-ratings of the acceptability of the intervention
Feasibility as assessed by percent of clients who complete the assessments and interventionImmediately post-treatment (10 weeks)Percentage of clients who do not drop out of the trial. Drop out would be defined as not completing the TRE intervention, or failing to complete the end-of-treatment intervention.

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Lower Mania symptoms as assessed with the Patient Mania Questionnaire-9Change from baseline to immediately post-treatment (10 weeks)Self-Rated Patient Mania Questionnaire-9
higher scores on Self-rated Quality of LifeChange from baseline to immediatly post-treatment (10 weeks)Brief Quality of Life in Bipolar Disorder scale
Lower Depression symptoms as assessed with the Patient Health Questionnaire-9Change from baseline to immediately post-treatment (10 weeks)PHQ-9
Lower scores on two Patient Reported Outcome Measurement Information System (PROMIS) sleep scalesChange from baseline to immediately post-treatment (10 weeks)PROMIS self-report of sleep disturbance and sleep-related impairment (summed together)

Other

MeasureTime frameDescription
Higher Functional impairment on the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule (WHO-DAS2.0)Change from baseline to immediatly post-treatment (10 weeks)WHO-DAS2.0 nonphysical health-related scales

Countries

United States

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026