ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sports Act. Living
Sec. Sport and Exercise Nutrition
This article is part of the Research TopicThe Role of Nutritional Interventions in Optimizing Exercise Outcomes and RecoveryView all 5 articles
The Impact of Time-Restricted Feeding on Energy and Macronutrient Intake Among Elite Jordanian Football Players: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Provisionally accepted
- 1School of Agriculture, The University of Jordan, Aljubeiha, Jordan
- 2Department of Sport Sciences, Jordan Football Association, Amman, Jordan, Amman, Jordan
- 3The University of Jordan, School of Sport Sciences, Amman, Jordan
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Background: Nutrition is a key factor in optimizing training, performance, recovery, and health among athletes. Intermittent fasting (IF) is one of the nutritional strategies. Objective: To compare the effect of an 8-week time-restricted feeding (TRF) protocol versus a standard diet on energy and macronutrient intake among professional football players. Methods: A randomized controlled trial was conducted among 30 professional adult male football players, a 16/8 time-restricted feeding (TRF) group vs a control group. Dietary intake was assessed pre-and post-intervention (12 weeks) using a seven-day food record. Data were analyzed for energy and nutrient intake using ESHA Food Processor® software. Results: At baseline, both groups consumed less energy and carbohydrates than recommended for elite athletes. Following the 8-week intervention, total energy and macronutrient intakes increased slightly in both groups, but changes were not statistically significant for energy or carbohydrates. The TRF group increased mean energy intake from 33 ± 8.0 to 36 ± 4.9 kcal/kg/day and carbohydrate intake from 4.02 ± 1.48 to 4.27 ± 0.82 g/kg/day, while the Control group increased from 38 ± 12.2 to 42 ± 11.0 kcal/kg/day and from 4.58±2.11 to 5.13±1.73g/kg/day, respectively. Protein intake significantly decreased within the TRF group (from 2.21 ± 0.60 to 1.84 ± 0.51 g/kg/day, p = 0.01), while the Control group showed no significant change. Fat intake increased in both groups but without significant between-group differences. Despite modest improvements, both groups continued to fall below recommended energy and carbohydrate targets, and vitamins D and K remained markedly insufficient post-intervention. 2 Conclusion: TRF did not significantly improve energy or macronutrient intake compared to the standard diet. Both groups exhibited persistent energy and carbohydrate deficits and inadequate vitamin D and K intake, highlighting the need for structured nutrition support regardless of feeding pattern.
Keywords: Energy, Football players, Intermittent fasting Jordanian athletes, Nutrients, rct
Received: 01 Jul 2025; Accepted: 04 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Blasi, Abualsaud, AMAWI and Ghazzawi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Hadeel Ghazzawi
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.