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Diet and food › Intermittent Fasting and Weight › Studies

Randomized trial · measured the question itself

3-week trial in 101 adults with prediabetes: fasting plans lost more weight than controls

Chair and colleagues · The journal of nursing research : JNR · 2022

Original title: Intermittent Fasting in Weight Loss and Cardiometabolic Risk Reduction: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Under review. A person has not yet checked this summary against the paper. It is written from the PubMed abstract. Until a person checks it, search engines are asked not to list this page.

What the study found

Points to benefit

Both fasting groups lost more weight, BMI and waist size than controls (all ps < .05). Alternate-day fasting cut weight and BMI more than 16/8 (all ps < .001). No numbers for weight in abstract.

The study at a glance

Type of study
Randomized trial
Who or what was studied
101 people · overweight and obese adults with prediabetes
What was tested
alternate-day fasting or 16/8 time restricted fasting for 3 weeks, vs a control group, with follow-up at 3 months
What it measured
The question itself: weight loss, compared with ordinary calorie cutting
How long
3 weeks
Who has a stake
No stake declared
No conflicts of interest declared.
Journal
The journal of nursing research : JNR, 2022
Source
PubMed record 35050952. This page is based on the abstract only.

How much this study counts

  • ✓Randomized: people were put into groups by chance, so the groups start out alike.
  • •Medium size: 101 people.
  • –Short: 3 weeks. Longer-term effects are unknown.
  • ✓Measured the question itself: weight loss, compared with ordinary calorie cutting.
  • ✓No competing interests declared.
  • •Summarized from the PubMed abstract only. The full paper may hold details the abstract leaves out.

✓ Strength– Limit• Note

These points come from fixed rules about the type of study, its size and length, what it measured, and who has a stake. Every study on Digestery gets the same rules.

Where this study sits

Each dot is one on-topic paper on this question. Steps near the top answer the question more directly.

↑ Stronger evidence

  1. Trials in people: weight loss

    9

    5 benefit, 2 mixed, 2 no difference

    ↑ This study is the ringed dot

  2. Trials in people: other measures

    8

    4 benefit, 3 mixed, 1 no difference

  3. Trials in people: lab tests or safety

    1

    1 benefit

  4. Population studies

    0

    None among the papers we read.

  5. Blood levels and genes

    0

    None among the papers we read.

↓ Weaker evidence

  • Points to benefit
  • Mixed
  • No difference
  • No direction
  • Points to harm

How it fits with the other research

The short answer to “Does intermittent fasting help with weight loss?”

Yes, but about like calorie cutting.

Confidence: moderate. Based on 26 on-topic papers.

Read the full answer

Of the other 8 papers on the same step: 4 benefit, 2 mixed, 2 no difference. This one found benefit.

  • Counted on the ladder, but not quoted in the page’s main findings.

Other papers on the same step

See all 26 studies on this question

How this page was made

Label

First read of the abstract
Claude Sonnet
Independent second read
Claude Haiku
Differences settled
The two reads agreed on every checked field. Claude Opus 5.5.
Headline
Claude Sonnet, from the checked study record. A script checked its numbers and wording.
Numbers
Checked against the abstract by a script
“How much this study counts”
Fixed rules, the same for every study
Source check by a person
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