Table 1.

Characteristics of the included studies.

Study, year	Sample size	Intervention group	Control group	TRE window	Main measured outcomes	Main findings
Cai et al. (2019) (57)	271	TRE	ADF and a control diet	4 weeks, 8 h consistent eating time daily	Body weight, body composition, and cardiometabolic risk factors, live parameters	TRE can reduce body weight, fat mass, total cholesterol, and serum triglycerides. TRE and ADF were effective diet interventions for patients with NAFLD, achieving improvements in hyperlipidemia and reducing body weight.
Kord-Varkaneh et al. (2023) (55)	52	TRE and a low-sugar diet	Control diet	12 weeks, 8 h consistent eating time daily	Body weight, body composition, cardiometabolic risk factors, glucose homeostasis, liver parameters, and inflammation	TRF plus a low-sugar diet can improve lipid, liver, and inflammatory markers, and reduce adiposity. Therefore, TRF combined with a low-sugar diet could be regarded as a promising non-pharmacologic intervention for patients with NAFLD, and long-term adherence in diverse populations should be considered in further studies.
Wei et al. (2023) (56)	88	TRE plus CR	DCR (habitual meal timing) and CR	12 months, 8 h consistent eating time daily	Body weight, body composition, cardiometabolic risk factors, glucose homeostasis, and liver parameters	TRE and CR reduced the intrahepatic triglyceride (IHTG) content by 8.3 and 8.1%, respectively, at the 6-month assessment. TRE and DCR can significantly reduce body weight, metabolic risk factors, and liver stiffness; however, there was no significant difference between the two groups regarding these factors. In addition, in terms of the safety of TRE, the authors found that there were no significant differences between the TRE plus CR group and the CR group for adverse events, including discomfort in the stomach, appetite change, dyspepsia, constipation, hunger, fatigue, decreased appetite, and dizziness. Their findings supported that caloric restriction should be added to TRE.
Mack et al. (2014) (54)	32	TRE	SC	12 weeks, 8 h TRE	Fat mass, anthropometric and biochemical measurements	TRE is a well-tolerated strategy to treat NAFLD and central adiposity, with significantly greater improvements in transient elastography (liver stiffness and CAP), waist circumference, visceral fat, and insulin resistance compared to standard diet and exercise in this pilot study.