Health is about a million different moving parts. When you follow a diet for a special purpose, it may be very beneficial for one aspect of health but not another. In the past, we have written several blogs about research that has found intermittent fasting appears to aid blood sugar levels.
New research has come out saying that may be true, but it “may make little to no difference to weight loss and quality of life.” The team behind the work said that it may improve overall health and wellness.
This research was based on studying the results of 22 previous studies using almost 2,000 adults to find out if intermittent fasting was better for weight loss than following traditional weight loss advice or following no advice at all. There are many forms of intermittent fasting. Some people fast on alternating days of the week. Some fast on specific days of the week. Others only eat during a set window of time each day. Regardless of what version of the diet they used, they lost no more weight than people who weren’t on a diet. And their quality of life was the same as people who were on a standard diet.
"Intermittent fasting may be a reasonable option for some people, but the current evidence doesn't justify the enthusiasm we see on social media," said lead review author Luis Garegnani from the Universidad Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires.
The researchers do worry that some of the studies they were using for their analysis weren’t controlled enough and didn’t have large enough sample sizes. However, they are still "moderately confident" in their conclusions.
The researchers said that when you combine all the research together to create a cohesive picture, it could "provide a clear indication that intermittent fasting offers little benefit," according to Dr. Baptiste Leurent, associate professor in medical statistics at Univ. College London. "This is yet another example of a misalignment between public perception and the scientific evidence."
People who followed fasting lost three percent of their body weight over 12 months. Five percent would be considered clinically meaningful. The fact that there was so little difference between fasting and a regular diet is disheartening, as one would hope one of the methods would yield large results.
“Intermittent fasting is not a miracle solution, but it can be one option among several for weight management,” said Dr. Garegnani. “Intermittent fasting likely yields results similar to traditional dietary approaches for weight loss. It doesn’t appear clearly better, but it’s not worse either.”
