Jonatan Ruiz receives the 21st Caja Rural Granada Health Sciences Award
Jonatan Ruiz awarded for a clinical trial on the effects of intermittent fasting on cardiometabolic health in people with obesity, published in Nature Medicine
Professor Jonatan Ruiz, from the Department of Physical and Sports Education at the University of Granada and director of the University Institute of Sport and Health (iMUDS), has been awarded the 21st Caja Rural Granada Health Sciences Prize for his work titled “Effects of early, late and self-selected time-restricted eating on visceral adipose tissue and cardiometabolic health in participants with overweight or obesity: a randomized controlled trial.”
The study, published in the prestigious journal Nature Medicine, shows that restricting food intake to the early hours of the day (up to 5:00 p.m.) improves glucose regulation and reduces subcutaneous abdominal fat. The findings demonstrate that early time-restricted eating is an effective, safe, and low-cost strategy to improve cardiovascular health in people with obesity.
During the award ceremony, Professor Ruiz highlighted that this recognition represents “an encouragement to continue researching effective strategies against obesity, one of the major global health challenges,” and emphasized that it is “a true honor for the entire team and a motivation to keep generating knowledge that contributes to improving people’s lives.”
The President of Caja Rural Granada and its Foundation, Antonio León, congratulated the researcher and his team for “a study that underscores the importance of scientific collaboration to improve the quality of life of thousands of people living with obesity and its consequences,” reaffirming the institution’s commitment to supporting biomedical research.
Meanwhile, Luis González, Managing Director of the Granada Health Sciences Technology Park Foundation (PTS), praised the study’s impact and the strength of the scientific and innovation ecosystem that made it possible. “At the PTS Foundation, we are proud to support initiatives that connect science and society,” he stated.
The expert committee, chaired by Ignacio Molina, particularly valued the study’s methodological rigor, the coordination among multiple centers, the advanced technology employed, and the social and clinical relevance of its findings. The research, conducted in Granada and Pamplona with 197 participants (50% women), involved collaboration among the iMUDS, the Biosanitary Research Institute of Granada (ibs.GRANADA), the CIBER on Obesity and Nutrition (CIBEROBN), the CIBER on Frailty and Healthy Aging (CIBERFES), the Public University of Navarra, and the San Cecilio and Virgen de las Nieves University Hospitals in Granada.
The Caja Rural Granada Health Sciences Prize, endowed with €25,000, annually recognizes outstanding research in fields such as regenerative medicine, molecular oncology, genomics, nutrition, and cardiovascular diseases. The award is organized by the Caja Rural Granada Foundation in collaboration with the Granada Health Sciences Technology Park Foundation, with support from the Regional Government of Andalusia, the University of Granada, and the Colleges of Physicians and Pharmacists of Granada.
