Intermittent fasting is no more effective than regular dieting

In recent years, people who want to lose weight are gaining popularity intermittent fasting. This scheme has different variations: we can talk about limiting power to 2 days a week with a regular diet the rest of the time, and about the possibility of eating only at certain hours.

There is an opinion that this method of losing weight allows you to quickly get rid of body fat, and some say that following such a diet is easier than just counting calories. From a scientific point of view, the benefits of intermittent fasting have been little studied: predominantly animal experiments, and human studies were either short or observational without sufficient control.

New data shared by scientists from China, who publishedCalorie Restriction with or without Time-Restricted Eating in Weight Loss / The New England Journal of Medicine results of his research in The New England Journal of Medicine. Their test involved 139 volunteers with a body mass index between 28 and 45 (a BMI over 25 is considered overweight, and over 30 is considered obese).

They were randomly divided into two groups. Both were asked to limit their caloric intake for the next year: 1500-1800 kilocalories per day for men and 1200-1500 kilocalories per day for women. At the same time, members of one of the groups could eat only between 8:00 and 16:00.

118 volunteers reached the end of the experiment. Those who followed intermittent fasting lost an average of 8 kg, while those who restricted calories in the traditional way lost an average of 6.3 kg. This difference is not considered statistically significant.

There were also no significant differences in other parameters, including waist size, body fat levels, blood pressure, and glucose and lipid levels (all of which improved from baseline) level).

According to the results of the experiment, scientists found that the 8-hour meal regimen did not lead to greater weight loss than calorie restriction. However, both diets lead to the same calorie deficit. Negative effects such as increased fatigue, dizziness and headache were observed among participants in both groups to the same extent.

The results are consistent with another large 2020 randomized trial conducted with more than 100 participants. It lasted 12 weeks, and scientists also did not reveal a significant difference between the two groups.

In addition, scientists did not record the mobility of the participants in the experiment and the calories they burned. But they note that the results of the study are enough to suggest that intermittent fasting does help control weight.