What Are Key Numbers Involved In The Trial
The trial on 72 patients all confirmed T2D patients was randomised in which there were 36 volunteers assigned to the IF group the same number was assigned to a control group.
There was a 3-month intervention . There was follow-up for three months to assess initial rates of diabetes remission. And, to assess the durability of that remission, a follow-up came at one year .
The researchers initially screened 246 patients for the trial, and whittled it down to 72 who met their trial criteria.
Does Additional Support Make A Difference
Prior studies of IF that have provided behavioral counseling, and guidance on nutrition and activity, have definitely shown positive results. For example, in a previous blog post I described a 2020 American Journal of Clinical Nutritionstudy in which 250 overweight or obese adults followed one of three diets for 12 months:
- IF on the 5:2 protocol, which means drastically reducing food intake for any two of five days of the week
- Mediterranean, which emphasized fruits and vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, whole grains, and olive oil with moderate fish, chicken, eggs, and dairy, and with an allowance of one glass of wine per day for women and two per day for men
- Paleo, which emphasized fruits and vegetables, animal proteins, coconut products, butter, and olive oil, along with some nuts, seeds, and legumes.
- And this is key: all participants were provided education on behavioral strategies for weight loss, stress management, sleep, and exercise.
Everyone lost weight. The IF group lost more than anyone with an average of 8.8 pounds, Mediterranean next at 6.2 pounds, and Paleo last at 4 pounds. Adherence was better with the Mediterranean diet and IF than with the Paleo diet , and better adherence resulted in one to three pounds more weight loss. The Mediterranean and IF groups also saw significant drops in blood pressure, another good result.
What Intermittent Fasting Does To The Body
Intermittent fasting may by slowing the body’s metabolism, and it also might give the bodys cells a rest from the work of processing the glucose from meals or snacks. The respite might let cells focus on other tasks, like breaking down toxins and other unnecessary molecules or repairing damage to DNA.
Mouse studies show mice that had their feeding restricted to within certain hours warded off metabolic diseases, like diabetes, and improved their overall health when compared to mice that had the same caloric intake but didnt fast. Yet human trials seeking to confirm these findings and other supposed intermittent-fasting benefits tend to be small, and their results inconclusive. Some researchers think the real benefit of intermittent fasting is that it tends to reduce the calories you take in the timing has nothing to do with it.
Here are four of the most compelling scientific discoveries of 2021 about intermittent fasting and a few more that poke holes in the eating regimens bonafides.
Also Check: Best Way To Lower Fasting Blood Sugar
Who Should Abstain From If
Individuals with the following conditions should abstain from intermittent fasting:
- Eating disorders that involve unhealthy self-restriction
- Use of medications that require food intake
- Active growth stage, such as in adolescents
- Pregnancy, breastfeeding
Traditionally, fasting is a universal ritual used for health or spiritual benefit, described in a number of religious texts. In addition, the works by Socrates and Plato also describe some benefits from the practice of fasting.
Beego, a traditional Chinese water-only fasting practice initially developed for spiritual purposes, later extended to physical fitness purposes.
If You’re Thinking Of Trying Intermittent Fasting
If you’re someone who’s interested in trying intermittent fasting, you should be reassured by the results of this study that trying a time-restricted eating plan isnt likely to have a major negative impact on your hormone levels or fertility.
Remember that there are lots of intermittent fasting-style plans that might work for you, Srinath said. The time-restricted eating models in this study, which only allowed participants to eat for either four or six hours per day, is on the stricter side, she added.
“This was an extreme,” Dobs agreed. “In the long run, there’s going to be poor compliance.” Other intermittent fasting schedules allow for longer eating windows, like eight hours, or only require followers to fast every other day.
If you’re curious about intermittent fasting but aren’t sure where to start, Varady recommends taking a look at , which she uses to address frequently asked questions.
And intermittent fasting can be dangerous for some people, Dobs said. As always, its a good idea to chat with your doctor before taking on a drastic change in your diet. In this case, thats especially important for people taking certain medications and those with certain health conditions, like diabetes, the Mayo Clinic explains.
You May Like: What Can You Eat Or Drink When Fasting
Could Intermittent Fasting Be Good For Your Health
University of Utah Health Communications
For people searching for ways to lose weight and improve their health, there is mixed evidence on the best strategies to make it happen. A new study by U of U Health scientists finds that intermittent fasting, a weight loss approach that has been gaining attention, may have a beneficial impact on several health measures under certain circumstances.
This study shows the beneficial associations of intermittent fasting on obesity-related health outcomes that were supported by moderate to high-quality evidence, says the studys senior author Nathorn Chaiyakunapruk, PharmD, PhD, a professor in the Department of Pharmacotherapy at U of U Health.
His team reviewed studies summarizing clinical trials to gauge the health impacts of alternating periods of fasting and eating on a regular schedule throughout the week. They found that intermittent fasting seems to be most beneficial for people who are overweight or obese. The approach was associated with improvements in a number of obesity-related health outcomes, including body mass index, body weight, lipid profile, and glycemic profile.
Chaiyakunapruk points out that the body responds to this weight loss strategy differently than it does to popular diets. Intermittent fasting focuses not only on total quality of food consumed but also when food is consumed, he says.
Raw Vegan Diet Loved By Gwyneth Paltrow Demi Moore May Pose Health Risk: Expert
Fasting for hours and hoping for weight loss? Its a bunch of baloney, experts say.
A study published Thursday in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine found that the buzzy intermittent-fasting trend is no more effective than traditional calorie counting, blowing the lid off the celebrity-backed fad touted by the likes of Jennifer Aniston, former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and, of course, Goop queen Gwyneth Paltrow.
Researchers found that intermittent fasting or time-restricted eating, sometimes for up to 18 hours, aiming to shed pounds did not actually lead to any more weight loss for obese people than daily calorie caps.
A regimen of time-restricted eating was not more beneficial with regard to reduction in body weight, body fat or metabolic risk factors than daily calorie restriction, the study authors wrote.
Its not the first time intermittent fasting, which often sees dieters forgoing food and eating only in a 6- or 8-hour window, has been lambasted for being a dieting dud. A 2020 study by researchers from the University of California at San Francisco found that, compared to people who ate normally, fasters only lost a half-pound more in 12 weeks.
Don’t Miss: How To Do Intermittent Fasting For Beginners
New Study Claims Intermittent Fasting May Shorten Lifespan
Intermittent fasting, a popular weight loss technique, has helped many lose weight and keep off extra pounds long term. However, a recent study has found that skipping breakfast correlates to a higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease.
The study was published in the journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and used a sample size of 24,000 adults over the age of 40 who logged daily the time of their meals since 2015. If the subject passed away, researchers would log the reason for their death.
Of those studied, 4,175 passed on within the seven-year time frame. Researchers found those who skipped breakfast were more likely to develop fatal cardiovascular disease. At the same time, those who skipped lunch or dinner had a heightened risk of dying from all causes.
Those who ate only one meal a day had a 30% higher mortality rate than those who ate three meals a day.
The studys researchers suggest that a possible reason for increased mortality rates may be that when a person eats after fasting, they are more likely to consume more calories in a short amount of time. As a result, the person will increase their blood sugar rapidly and release higher levels of insulin.
Dr. Yangbo Sun, the studys lead author and researcher at the department of preventative medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, said that the research is especially pertinent to Americans given the popularity of intermittent fasting.
Intermittent Fasting Trial Sees Weight Loss Benefits But Questions Remain
A recent study testing the popular dietary practice of time-restricted eating has delivered positive results, indicating greater weight loss compared to calorie counting. But researchers are still mired in a cloud of discordant findings, unable to clearly demonstrate whether the weight loss benefits of this intermittent fasting strategy are due to anything other than trial participants simply eating less.
One common form of intermittent fasting involves limiting food intake to a small stretch of time in any 24-hour period. So for example, the 16:8 method involves only eating across an eight-hour window every day, such as 8am to 4pm.
Over the last few years a decent body of research has accumulated, investigating the benefits and limitations of this way of eating. Some studies have found time-restricted feeding can be an effective weight loss tool while others have found it no more helpful at dropping the pounds than simple calorie counting.
Earlier this year one of the longest trials ever conducted on the dietary practice concluded the majority of weight loss associated with time-restricted feeding can be attributed to a simple reduction in overall calorie intake, and not any particular metabolic mechanism associated with the intermittent fasting strategy.
That study followed 139 subjects for twelve months. All participants were required to follow a strict calorie-controlled diet, but half of the cohort could only eat between 8am and 4pm every day.
Don’t Miss: What’s The Benefit Of Intermittent Fasting
What Other Studies Show The Benefits Of Fasting
There are at least 40 different scientific investigations on the benefits of IF. In 2018, a team led by Roy Taylor, Ahmad Al-Mrabeh and Sviatlana Zhyzhneuskaya published in Cell Metabolism their research showing how remission in human Type 2 diabetes requires a decrease in liver and pancreas fat content.
What Is Intermittent Fasting
It is a diet regimen that alternates between times of fasting with no food or severe calorie reduction and periods of eating. Evidence shows those who observe IF alongside curbing carbohydrate consumption with professional medical supervision get improved health biomarkers, such as blood pressure and cholesterol levels and weight loss.
You May Like: What Is The Best Fasting Schedule For Weight Loss
Intermittent Fasting Can Really Help Out Type 2 Diabetes
30 million Americans have diabetes and 84 million have prediabetes.
When you develop type 2 diabetes you are said to be insulin resistant. This means your body cant use the hormone insulin properly and so youre left with too much sugar in your blood.
High blood sugar is a big problem behind type 2 diabetes and is linked to excess fat gain and a number of health problems.
Intermittent fasting reduces insulin resistance and increasing insulin sensitivity which means more of the glucose you eat will go where it needs to go instead of building up in your blood.
Blood sugar can decrease by 3-6% when intermittent fasting and fasting insulin by 20-31% .
This is a profound difference if you have type 2 diabetes or if you are pre-diabetic.
How Does Intermittent Fasting Work
There are several different ways to do intermittent fasting, but they are all based on choosing regular time periods to eat and fast. For instance, you might try eating only during an eight-hour period each day and fast for the remainder. Or you might choose to eat only one meal a day two days a week. There are many different intermittent fasting schedules.
Mattson says that after hours without food, the body exhausts its sugar stores and starts burning fat. He refers to this as metabolic switching.
Intermittent fasting contrasts with the normal eating pattern for most Americans, who eat throughout their waking hours, Mattson says. If someone is eating three meals a day, plus snacks, and theyre not exercising, then every time they eat, theyre running on those calories and not burning their fat stores.
Intermittent fasting works by prolonging the period when your body has burned through the calories consumed during your last meal and begins burning fat.
Read Also: What Are The Different Types Of Fasting In The Bible
Intermittent Fasting: Does A New Study Show Downsides Or Not
- By Monique Tello, MD, MPH, Contributor
Intermittent fasting is an approach to eating based on timing. The idea is that fasting for long enough allows insulin levels to fall low enough that our body will use fat for fuel. Growing evidence in animals and humans shows that this approach leads to significant weight loss. When combined with a nutritious, plant-based diet and regular physical activity, IF can be part of a healthy weight loss or maintenance plan, as I described in an earlier blog post.
Now, a randomized controlled trial published in JAMA claims that IF has no significant weight loss benefit and a substantial negative effect on muscle mass. News outlets picked up the story and ran headlines like A Potential Downside of Intermittent Fasting and An Unintended Side Effect of Intermittent Fasting.
Intermittent Fasting Helps Your Body Repair Itself
Autophagy is a process that naturally occurs in the body to clear waste. Autophagy means self-eating and involves cells metabolizing dysfunctional proteins inside cells.
Fasting increases autophagy significantly and can therefore potentially help to protect against things like cancer and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimers disease .
You May Like: Why Is Intermittent Fasting Not Working
Take Part In New Cnem Research
- Can you help researchers from the Centre for Nutrition, Exercise & Metabolism with their new study? The team want volunteers, ideally those based locally to Bath, to take part in a new study examining how diets varying in carbohydrate, fat and sugar can affect energy balance and our activity levels. Find out more about that work and take part.
Study Dispels Myths On Intermittent Fasting For Weight Loss
Intermittent fasting diets have become very popular in the past few years as they can produce clinically significant weight loss at least in the short term. However, the long-term effects of intermittent fasting on weight management are still poorly understood because the majority of studies to date have followed patients for short durations .
To better understand the role of intermittent fasting in weight loss, a team from the University of Illinois Chicago reviewed research on intermittent fasting to provide insights into its effects on the body and to provide advice for incorporating these diets into everyday life. They also presented recommendations for future research in a paper recently published in Nature Reviews Endocrinology.
The 3 main forms of intermittent fasting were reviewed:
These diets produce mild to moderate weight loss, a 3% to 8% decrease from baseline, over short durations of 8 to 12 weeks, wrote lead author Krista Varady, PhD, professor of nutrition at the UIC College of Applied Health Sciences.
The authors conclude that intermittent fasting is generally safe, producing few gastrointestinal, neurologic, hormonal, or metabolic effects, the researchers noted.
Don’t Miss: Are There Benefits To Intermittent Fasting
It Showed Support Is Imperative
Both groups in this trial were given a lot of support to adhere to the kilojoule-restricted diet. They were provided with one meal replacement shake per day for the first six months, to make it easier to follow the kilojoule restriction and help improve adherence to the diet.
They also received dietary counseling from trained health coaches for the 12 months of the trial. They received dietary information booklets that included advice on portion size and sample menus.
They were encouraged to weigh foods to improve their accuracy in reporting kilojoule intakes and were required to keep a daily log with photographs of foods eaten and the time, using the study app.
They also received follow-up calls or app messages twice a week and met with the health coach individually every two weeks for the first six months.
In the second six months, they continued to fill out their dietary records for three days per week and received weekly follow-up telephone calls and app messages and met with a health coach monthly. They also attended monthly health-education sessions.
This was a lot of support and is very important. Receiving long-term support to achieve health behavior changes typically achieves a weight loss of 3-5 percent of body weight, which significantly lowers risk of weight-related health conditions, including a 50 percent lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes over eight years.
Intermittent Fasting And Polycystic Ovary Syndrome
This year, researchers at Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University performed the first study on the impact of intermittent fasting on women with polycystic ovary syndrome. It was published in the Journal of Translational Medicine in April.
Polycystic ovary syndrome is a hormonal condition that affects around one in ten adult women. Due to an imbalance in male-related hormones, the ovaries become enlarged and they develop small cysts on their outer edges. The most common symptom of the syndrome is irregular or really long menstrual cycles.
Our findings suggest that has the potential to be a potent cognitive enhancer.
The study involves just 15 women, so we cant draw firm conclusions. However, 73.3 percent showed an improvement in the regularity of their menstrual cycle after they limited their eating to eight hours of the day for six weeks.
The researchers found that while fasting, the women showed an increase in sex hormone-binding globulin, which would regulate the problematic hormones.
The women also lost weight during the study on average, 1.7 percent of their body mass. They also showed decreases in certain biological markers of inflammation and liver damage.
Recommended Reading: Can I Take Supplements While Fasting
