Intermittent fasting—the practice of going without food or drink for set periods of time—has been touted as a technique to shed some pounds and improve health. A gaggle of researchers decided to review the evidence to see whether it is as effective as many claim.
The review authors checked out 11 reviews of 130 randomized clinical trials of intermittent fasting. Their results were published online on 17 December 2021. JAMA Network Open..
The authors found “moderate-to-high-quality” evidence that intermittent fasting helps obese adults shed some pounds and appears to cut back some measures of heart disease risk, reminiscent of blood pressure, blood cholesterol and blood sugar. Although there are different intermittent fasting plans, two models seem to supply essentially the most advantages on the subject of weight reduction. One involved modified alternate-day fasting, by which people eat normally on some days but restrict their intake to 600 calories on three to 5 days each week. The second weight-reduction plan was the 5:2, by which people ate normally five days per week but restricted their intake to 600 calories the opposite two. Overweight and obese adults who followed considered one of these plans were capable of lose greater than 5 percent of their body weight.
Overall, this review shows that intermittent fasting may help people shed some pounds and improve other measures of health. But researchers say more research is required to grasp what role intermittent fasting plays in stopping cardiovascular problems or early death.
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