Intermittent Fasting Regimens: Efficacy, Adherence and the Patients for Whom They Are Inadvisable
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22302401Keywords:
Intermittent fasting, Time-restricted eating, Energy restriction, Lean mass, ContraindicationsAbstract
Intermittent fasting regimens are widely adopted and the randomised evidence for them is narrower than that adoption implies. In
a 12-week trial of 116 adults, a 16:8 pattern produced a weight change of 0.94 kg lower than baseline against 0.68 kg with three
structured meals, a between-group difference of 0.26 kg with an interval from 1.30 kg lower to 0.78 kg higher. In a 12-month trial
of 139 adults, a restricted eating window added to calorie restriction was no better than calorie restriction alone on weight or on
any body composition measure. Restriction of intake, not the timing of it, is what the trials support. Two further findings qualify
the picture. In the imaged subgroup of the shorter trial, 1.10 kg of the 1.70 kg lost was lean tissue, around 65 per cent, which the
investigators noted far exceeds the usual 20 to 30 per cent, with a significant between-group difference in appendicular lean mass
index. And several groups were excluded from these trials or are advised against the regimens, which is where the practical
caution belongs.
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