Evelyn B Parr

Australian Catholic University | ACU · Exercise and Nutrition Research Program, Mary MacKillop Institute for Health Research

Aims To test the efficacy of time-restricted eating (TRE) in comparison to dietitian-led individualised dietary guidance to improve HbA1c in people with Type 2 diabetes mellitus. Methods In a parallel groups design, 51 adults (35–65 y) with Type 2 diabetes mellitus and overweight/obesity (HbA1c ≥6.5% (48 mmol/mol), BMI ≥25-≤40 kg/m2) commenced a s...

Time‐restricted eating is a novel nutrition intervention with evidence of beneficial effects on weight loss, blood glucose management, and other metabolic health outcomes. Adherence to time‐restricted eating is higher than some traditional nutrition interventions to support individuals living with overweight/obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Ho...

Aims: Examine the effect of 5 d/wk., 9-h time-restricted eating (TRE) protocol on 24-h glycaemic control in adults with type 2 diabetes (T2D). Methods: Nineteen adults with T2D (10 F/9 M; 50 ± 9 y, HbA1c 7.6%(60 mmol/mol), BMI ~34 kg/m2) completed a pre-post non-randomised trial comprising of a 2-wk Habitual monitoring period followed by 9-h (10...

Aim Blood pressure (BP) responses to exercise are frequently measured, with the concern that greater increases are a marker of disease. We sought to characterize the normal exercise BP response in healthy adults and its relationships with age, sex, and fitness. Methods 589 participants (median age 46 [IQR 24–56] years, 81% male) underwent cardiopu...

In individuals with McArdle disease (IWMD), the ingestion of carbohydrates before exercise has previously been shown in laboratory studies to significantly decrease the exercising symptoms of the condition and increase exercise tolerance during the early stages of exercise. As a result, carbohydrate ingestion pre-exercise is currently included in m...

INTRODUCTION & AIMS People with advanced cancer and cachexia experience significant body weight loss, impairing physical function and lowering quality of life (QOL). Effective, evidence-based treatments for cancer cachexia are lacking, leaving patients with unmet needs. Exercise holds promise to improve patient QOL. However, information on patients...

People with advanced cancer and cachexia experience significant body weight loss, adversely impacting physical function and quality of life (QOL). Effective, evidence-based treatments for cancer cachexia are lacking, leaving patients with unmet needs. Exercise holds promise to improve patient QOL. However, information on patients’ experiences of ex...

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of manipulating hypoxic severity with low-intensity exercise on glucose regulation in healthy overweight adults. Methods: In a randomized crossover design, 14 males with overweight (age: 27 ± 5 years; body mass index (BMI) 27.1 ± 1.8 kg⋅m²) completed three exercise trials involving 60...

We investigated the effect of a high-fat diet (HFD) on serum lipid subfractions in men with overweight/obesity and determined whether morning or evening exercise affected these lipid profiles. In a three-armed randomised trial, 24 men consumed an HFD for 11 days. One group of participants did not exercise (n = 8, CONTROL), one group trained at 06:3...

Objective This study aimed to assess the impact of time-restricted eating (TRE) on integrated skeletal muscle myofibrillar protein synthesis (MyoPS) rates in males with overweight/obesity. Methods A total of 18 healthy males (age 46 ± 5 years; BMI: 30 ± 2 kg/m²) completed this exploratory, parallel, randomized dietary intervention after a 3-day le...

Background Although main lipid fractions in the blood, such as HDL and LDL, are associated with risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), the risk associated with different subfractions of these particles varies. For example, small dense LDL particles are associated with significantly increased CVD risk while larger LDL particles are not. Purpose To i...

Purpose of review: Time-restricted eating (TRE) entails consuming energy intake within a 4- to 10-h window, with the remaining time spent fasting. Although studies have reported health benefits from TRE, little is known about the impact of TRE on common chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease. This review summar...

Cachexia is a prevalent muscle wasting syndrome among people with advanced cancer that profoundly impacts patient quality of life (QoL) and physical function. Exercise can improve QoL, physical function, and overall health in people with cancer and may be an important addition to treatment approaches for cancer cachexia. Greater understanding of pa...

Time-restricted eating (TRE) is a popular dietary strategy that emphasises the timing of meals in alignment with diurnal circadian rhythms, permitting ad libitum energy intake during a restricted (∼8-10 h) eating window each day. Unlike energy-restricted diets or intermittent fasting interventions that focus on weight loss, many of the health-relat...

Purpose: Exercise training is recommended to improve cardiometabolic health and fertility in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), yet there are few randomized controlled trials on the effects of different exercise protocols on clinical reproductive outcomes. Our aim was to determine the effect of high-intensity interval training (HIT) on m...

Introduction: Whether short-term, single-mode exercise training can improve physical fitness prior to a period of reduced physical activity (e.g. post-surgery recovery) is not well characterized in clinical populations nor middle-age adults. We investigated skeletal muscle adaptive responses following endurance exercise training (ENT), high-intens...

Aims/hypothesis We determined whether the time of day of exercise training (morning vs evening) would modulate the effects of consumption of a high-fat diet (HFD) on glycaemic control, whole-body health markers and serum metabolomics. Methods In this three-armed parallel-group randomised trial undertaken at a university in Melbourne, Australia, ov...

Exercise training in combination with optimal nutritional support is an effective strategy to maintain or increase skeletal muscle mass. A single bout of resistance exercise undertaken with adequate protein availability increases rates of muscle protein synthesis and, when repeated over weeks and months, leads to increased muscle fiber size. While...

Background & aims Guidelines for reducing postprandial blood glucose concentrations include avoiding high glycemic index (GI) foods, such as white potatoes. However, GI testing is often undertaken in the morning with foods consumed in isolation by non-clinical cohorts. We investigated the impact of potato preparation and consumption as part of a mi...

Individuals with type 2 diabetes (T2D) require a long-term dietary strategy for blood glucose management and may benefit from time-restricted eating (TRE, where the duration between the first and last energy intake is restricted to 8–10 h/day). We aimed to determine the feasibility of TRE for individuals with T2D. Participants with T2D (HbA1c >6.5...

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Time-restricted feeding (TRF) improves metabolism independent of dietary macronutrient composition or energy restriction. To elucidate mechanisms underpinning the effects of short-term TRF, we investigated skeletal muscle and serum metabolic and transcriptomic profiles from 11 men with overweight/obesity after TRF (8 h day-1) and extended feeding (...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression post-transcriptionally. In women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), several miRNAs are differentially expressed compared to women without PCOS, suggesting a role for miRNAs in PCOS pathophysiology. Exercise training modulates miRNA abundance and is primary lifestyle inte...

We determined the effects of time-restricted feeding (TRF; 8 h/d) versus extended feeding (EXF; 15 h/d) on 24-h and postprandial metabolism and subjective opinions of TRF in men with overweight/obesity. In a randomized crossover design, 11 sedentary males (age 38 ± 5 y; BMI: 32.2 ± 2.0 kg/m2) completed two isoenergetic diet protocols for 5 days, co...

Introduction Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common endocrine disorder in women of reproductive age and the leading cause of anovulatory infertility. Women with PCOS have a 15-fold higher prevalence of infertility, compared with women without PCOS, independent of body mass index (BMI). A healthy lifestyle is recommended to improve overall hea...

This Perspectives for Progress provide a synopsis for the potential of time-restricted eating (TRE) to rescue some of the deleterious effects on circadian biology induced by our modern-day lifestyle. We provide novel insights into the comparative and potential complementary effects of TRE and exercise training on metabolic health.

We compared the impact of a high versus low energy intake first meal on glucose and insulin responses during prolonged sitting in individuals with prediabetes. Thirteen adults with overweight/obesity and prediabetes (mean ± SD age: 60 ± 6 years, BMI: 33 ± 4 kg/m2; 2 h OGTT: 8.9 ± 1.1 mmol/L) completed two randomised trials: 10 h uninterrupted sitti...

Objective Advances in the field of metabolomics and the concomitant development of bioinformatics tools constitute a promising avenue towards the development of precision medicine and personalized profiling for numerous disease states. Studies in animal models have strengthened this concept, but the application in human subjects is scarce. Methods...

We determined the effects of altering meal timing and diet composition on temporal glucose homeostasis and physical activity measures. Eight sedentary, overweight/obese men (mean ± SD, age: 36 ± 4 years; BMI: 29.8 ± 1.8 kg/m2) completed two × 12-day (12-d) measurement periods, including a 7-d habitual period, and then 5 d of each diet (high-fat die...

High-fat, low-carbohydrate (CHO) diets increase whole-body rates of fat oxidation and down-regulate CHO metabolism. We measured substrate utilization and skeletal muscle mitochondrial respiration to determine whether these adaptations are driven by high fat or low CHO availability. In a randomized crossover design, 8 male cyclists consumed 5 d of a...

When ingested alone, beetroot juice and sodium bicarbonate are ergogenic for high-intensity exercise performance. This study sought to determine the independent and combined effects of these supplements. Eight endurance trained (V̇O2max 65 mL·kg·min(-1)) male cyclists completed four x 4-km time trials (TT) in a double-blind Latin square design supp...

Purpose: To compare energy use and substrate partitioning arising from repeated lower- versus upper-body sprints, or endurance exercise, across a 24-h period. Methods: Twelve untrained males (24±4 y) completed three trials in randomized order: (1) repeated sprints (five 30-s Wingate, 4.5-min recovery) on a cycle ergometer (SITLegs); (2) 50-min c...

Alcohol ingestion decreases post-exercise rates of muscle protein synthesis, but the mechanism(s) (e.g., increased protein breakdown) underlying this observation are unknown. Autophagy is an intracellular "recycling" system required for homeostatic substrate and organelle turnover; its dysregulation may provoke apoptosis and lead to muscle atrophy....

Introduction: Exercise reduces arterial and central venous blood pressures during recovery, which contributes to its valuable anti-hypertensive effects and to facilitating hypervolemia. Repeated sprint exercise potently improves metabolic function, but its cardiovascular effects (esp. hematological) are less well-characterized, as are effects of ex...

Interactions between diet, physical activity and genetic predisposition contribute to variable body mass changes observed in response to weight loss interventions. Circulating microRNAs (c-miRNAs) may act as 'biomarkers' that are associated with the rate of change in weight loss, and/or play a role in regulating the biological variation, in respons...

Purpose: We determined the effect of suppressing lipolysis via administration of Nicotinic acid (NA) and pre-exercise feeding on rates of whole-body substrate utilisation and cycling time trial (TT) performance. Methods: In a randomised, single-blind, crossover design, eight trained male cyclists/triathletes completed two series of TTs in which...

Objective: This study determined the effects of 16-week high-dairy-protein, variable-carbohydrate (CHO) diets and exercise training (EXT) on body composition in men and women with overweight/obesity. Methods: One hundred and eleven participants (age 47 ± 6 years, body mass 90.9 ± 11.7 kg, BMI 33 ± 4 kg/m(2) , values mean ± SD) were randomly stra...

Long-haul air travel imposes multiple stressors, arising from prolonged immobility, low humidity, modest hypobaria, circadian disruption and oxidative stress from food and cosmic radiation [1]. We developed a beverage system (Flyhidrate™ a) to counteract such effects, using ingredients shown in previous research to be effective when used acutely in...

Carbohydrate metabolism has been observed to be altered in males exercising in the cold. Whether metabolism is affected in females in the cold is unknown, therefore, the present study was conducted. Female cyclists (n=11) conducted two trials of 75 min cycling (74±4% VO 2max) each followed by a 4-km time-trial, at 5 ºC (Cold) and 15 ºC (Temperate),...

The culture in many team sports involves consumption of large amounts of alcohol after training/competition. The effect of such a practice on recovery processes underlying protein turnover in human skeletal muscle are unknown. We determined the effect of alcohol intake on rates of myofibrillar protein synthesis (MPS) following strenuous exercise wi...

Two independent but inter-related conditions that have a growing impact on healthy life expectancy and health care costs in developed nations are an age-related loss of muscle mass (i.e., sarcopenia) and obesity. Sarcopenia is commonly exacerbated in overweight and obese individuals. Progression towards obesity promotes an increase in fat mass and...