There's more evidence that intermittent fasting could help people with obesity lose weight.
Sticking to an eight hour "eating window" each day, for 12 weeks, led to moderate weight loss for one in four obese adults, according to a small study published January 28 in PLOS One.
Researchers from Queen Mary University of London looked at 50 obese adults in the U.K. who fasted for 16 hours each day. They were monitored with weekly phone calls for the first half of the study, then had in-person check-ins at the end of week six and week 12.
On average, participants in the study lost about four to five pounds in the 12 weeks. One in four participants lost at least 5% of their body weight by the end of the study.
Participants lost the most weight (an average of eight pounds total) if they stuck to intermittent fasting at least five days a week, over half of them did so through the end of the study. The most common reasons for lapsing in the diet were dining out, happy hours, and other social occasions, according to surveys from participants.
Read more: Some fasting advocates say you can sneak food into the diet without sacrificing the health benefits, but others aren't so sure
These results suggest that intermittent fasting is worth a closer look as a weight loss strategy.
"Simple weight management plans which people can stick to are currently lacking," Dunja Przulj, corresponding author of the study and a research health psychologist at Queen Mary University of London, said in a press release.
The weight loss in this study was comparable to results from other diets, based on the researchers' previous study.
In that study, which is still unpublished, data from 300 obese adults showed similar weight loss results from following the National Health Services advice to eat less, exercise more, count calories, and eat more fiber and produce.
Participants following NHS advice lost slightly less weight, about 4 pounds on average, compared to 6 pounds lost by intermittent fasting dieters in the most recent study. People were also less likely to stay committed to the NHS advice.
That means intermittent fasting could be as good or better for weight loss than current diets recommendations, according to researchers. However, neither of these studies looked at long-term weight loss, so we don't yet know how well intermittent fasting may work over time.
Previous research has found intermittent fasting has potential for treating obesity. Studies have shown it can work as well as other diets for weight loss, but it may not be any more effective. One theory to explain this is that fasting is just one strategy to help people cut calories, so their weight loss results depend on how much less they eat on a fasting diet.
In addition to weight loss, studies have explored whether intermittent fasting may improve health in other ways, such as reducing risk of disease or improving blood sugar control and cholesterol levels.
In this most recent study, intermittent fasting was not found to have an effect on blood pressure or cholesterol levels, which are also important markers of health. Researchers didn't measure blood sugar or insulin.
But still other research has found that intermittent fasting doesn't seem to improve markers of health compared to other healthy diets, and may even lead to side effects like muscle loss.
There's still a lot researchers don't understand about this type of fasting, and more research is needed to better understand how it might work and how best to apply it for health benefits.
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