Intermittent fasting is an effective alternative to traditional diets, study finds

Medical Xpress / National Taiwan University / BMC Medicine ^ | Jan. 20, 2025 | Yu-En Chen et al

[ConservativeMind]

Intermittent fasting has gained attention for its potential metabolic benefits, but questions remain about which regimen is most effective and how it compares to continuous energy restriction. To address these questions, researchers analyzed data from over 9,800 participants across 153 studies, focusing on three common intermittent fasting regimens: time-restricted eating, alternate-day fasting, and the 5:2 diet. These were compared with continuous energy restriction and usual diets.

The analysis examined four key metabolic domains (anthropometry, blood pressure, glycemic parameters, and lipid profile) across 14 specific outcomes. By employing network meta-analysis, the researchers were able to combine direct and indirect evidence, allowing them to rank the effectiveness of each dietary strategy based on their impacts on metabolic health.

The findings highlighted that all intermittent fasting regimens significantly reduced body weight compared to usual diets. The network meta-analysis revealed that intermittent fasting was more effective than usual diets in 85.4% of the studied metabolic outcomes and outperformed continuous energy restriction in 56.1%. Among the intermittent fasting regimens, alternate-day fasting consistently emerged as the most effective strategy for improving metabolic health, ranking first in 64.3% of the comparisons and second in 14.3%.

This research supports intermittent fasting as an effective dietary approach for improving metabolic health, outperforming usual diets and demonstrating efficacy comparable to continuous energy restriction. Among the various intermittent fasting regimens, alternate-day fasting stands out as the most promising, consistently delivering the most substantial improvements based on current evidence.

[LizzieD]

“The experts” seem to be divided on this question. Some say that little bit won’t break your fast, others are adamant about water/black coffee only. I’ve always had my morning coffee black, so it’s never been an issue for me. I’d say do it your way and see if you get results.

[wardaddy]

If I limit to 1200 calories a day I drop around 15-20 pounds a month regardless food

It seems adkins diet helps by confusing metabolism with no carbs

But in any event just eating less

The cabbage soup system for five days also jump starts

But if u really want to modify metabolism eat raw plant food especially juicing for a couple weeks but man that is hard for me

It drops weight and purges your gut etc

Historically I just eat less

And no desserts

If I falter a day I double down

Fasting is effective

I’ve gone around a week with only straight pure juices maybe 8-12 ounces a day

But again that’s taxing

It’s just discipline like a clean car or home or getting up when you’d prefer to sleep

People today especially women aren’t as shamed by fattiness as in my youth back in father knows best era lol

Though you will notice tonier zip codes have trimmer women toting their de rigeur Louie bags lol

My wife is five foot with huge boobies and only weighs 103-110 depending and after lots of kids

I’d love to only weight 200 but man I’d be hungry a lot

Five years ago circumstances beyond my control I had five kids at home and worked every day many hours and did everything for 7 months

I lost much weight despite eating all I wanted

So there is that but I was worn out lol

[Freedom4US]

Five (5) days of cabbage soup!? You’re gonna hurt somebody! NO SMOKING

[Defiant]

Thanks, I’ll try it my way at first and see how it goes. Worst case, I’ll learn how to drink coffee black.

[Bullish]

Yeah, skip a few meals guys. I’ve been doing it for years and my BMI is exactly where it should be.

[wardaddy]

💥