United States: The research study included an obese and a pre-diabetic sample population, was divided into two groups in such a way that one group was made to practice intermittent fasting while another ate freely without any weight loss, observed no major difference in terms of weight loss and other health indicators.
In the end, it was clear that the fasting diets, which are currently very much in vogue, don’t really make a difference in weight loss.
Instead, when you just reduce the amount of calories you take in, weight loss will occur, whether it’s during a certain, according to the study authors.
Dr. Nisa Maruthur, the team leader and an associate professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, stated, “Consuming most calories earlier in the day during 10-hour time-restricted eating did not decrease weight more than consuming them later in the day,”
Moreover, her team showed the findings of study on Friday during an annual meeting of the American College of Physicians (ACP) in Boston.
The findings of the study were made public in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
More about the intermittent fasting results
According to the US News reports, intermittent fasting has been very popular among those Americans who are weight-conscious.
The researchers of the study said, “Evidence shows that when adults with obesity limit their eating window to 4 to 10 hours, they naturally reduce caloric intake by approximately 200-550 calories per day and lose weight over 2-12 months.”
How was the study trial conducted?
The ongoing trial involved 41 participants experiencing obesity and pre-diabetes disorder, most of them black women, averaging 59 years old.
Participants were recruited and randomly allocated into two groups, each with a different eating regimen.
The 21 persons among them did a time-restricted eating so that they ate only between the hours of 08.00 to 18.00, and their foods were most taken before 1.00 pm.
On the other hand, the other 20 participants ate any time between 8 am and midnight and ate mostly when they were done for the day (approximately 5 pm).
Nevertheless all of the participants “received prepared meals with identical macronutrient and micronutrient compositions” and similar calorie counts on daily basis.
The bottom line, as stated by the researchers, was that during the duration of 12 weeks, the experimental group did not show any significant weight loss difference over the control group, as evidenced by the findings from the university research team at Hopkins.
People who participate in a fasting program shed an average of slightly over 5 pounds, whereas folks who consume on a regular basis shed slightly more, around 5.7 pounds.
Two groups were seen to deliver no significant difference in the fluctuations of blood sugar levels.
Conclusion made by researchers: Obese and/or pre-diabetics may not need to reduce calories every day and at the same rate as those who choose the fasting diet that cuts calories every day as well.
Drs. Krista Varady and Vanessa Oddo, both are the nutrition researchers of the University of Illinois, in their editorial emphasize the study has underlined the importance of regular dietary balance.
They have said that it is brilliant that it is now researched, but there are as before many specialists who don’t agree on its efficiency or that it’s good for one’s health.
They noted, “The rising popularity of time-restricted eating is most likely due to its sheer simplicity — it does not require a person to count calories to lose weight,” and, as the Hopkins study revealed, a fasting diet is “effective for weight loss, simply because it helps people eat less,” as the US News reported.
Varady and Oddo added that if one finds it difficult to persistently track calorie intake per day, fasting works naturally to reduce calories to certain levels where it causes weight loss.
Furthermore, they concluded, “Although time-restricted eating is no more effective than other diet interventions for weight reduction, it offers patients a simplified approach to treating obesity by omitting the need for calorie counting.”