Intermittent fasting and weight loss: Systematic review
Welton S, Minty R, O'Driscoll T, Willms H, Poirier D, Madden S, Kelly L
Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien · 134 citations
Review labels
Neutral facts our review recorded about how this study was done. They describe method, never whether we like the result.
How it was studied
- Design
- Systematic review (indexed by PubMed)
- Studied in
- People
- Main outcome
- Health markers and function
Who paid for it
- Funding
- Funding not disclosed
Publication
- Published
- 2020-02-01 · Can Fam Physician · vol. 66 · issue 2 · pp. 117–125
- Publisher
- National Institutes of Health
- Cited
- 212 citations · more than 97% of similar papers · 5.0× the field average
- Impact
- Top 10% most cited in its field
- References
- 60 works
- Access
- Open access (repository copy)
- Research areas
- Dietary Effects on Health · Diet and metabolism studies · Genetics, Aging, and Longevity in Model Organisms
- Keywords
- Intermittent fasting, Weight loss, Medicine, Overweight, Glycemic, Type 2 diabetes, Obesity, Very low calorie diet, Randomized controlled trial, Meal, Diabetes mellitus, Calorie restriction, Adverse effect, Clinical trial, Low calorie diet, Internal medicine, Endocrinology
- MeSH
- humans, obesity, weight loss, body mass index, fasting, primary health care, female, male
7 authors
From CA
- Stephanie Welton
- Robert MintyNOSM University
- Teresa O’DriscollNOSM University
- Hannah Willms
- Denise Poirier
- Sharen MaddenNOSM University
Abstract
Objective
To examine the evidence for intermittent fasting (IF), an alternative to calorie-restricted diets, in treating obesity, an important health concern in Canada with few effective office-based treatment strategies.
Data sources
A MEDLINE and EMBASE search from January 1, 2000, to July 1, 2019, yielded 1200 results using the key words fasting, time restricted feeding, meal skipping, alternate day fasting, intermittent fasting, and reduced meal frequency.
Study selection
Forty-one articles describing 27 trials addressed weight loss in overweight and obese patients: 18 small randomized controlled trials (level I evidence) and 9 trials comparing weight after IF to baseline weight with no control group (level II evidence). Studies were often of short duration (2 to 26 weeks) with low enrolment (10 to 244 participants); 2 were of 1-year duration. Protocols varied, with only 5 studies including patients with type 2 diabetes.
Synthesis
All 27 IF trials found weight loss of 0.8% to 13.0% of baseline weight with no serious adverse events. Twelve studies comparing IF to calorie restriction found equivalent results. The 5 studies that included patients with type 2 diabetes documented improved glycemic control.
Conclusion
Intermittent fasting shows promise for the treatment of obesity. To date, the studies have been small and of short duration. Longer-term research is needed to understand the sustainable role IF can play in weight loss.
Abstract via Europe PMC. Copyright remains with the authors or publisher.
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