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Diet and food › Intermittent Fasting and Weight › Studies

Randomized trial · measured the question itself

6-month trial in 75 adults with type 2 diabetes: time restricted eating lowered weight

Pavlou and colleagues · JAMA network open · 2023

Original title: Effect of Time-Restricted Eating on Weight Loss in Adults With Type 2 Diabetes: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

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What the study found

Points to benefit

Vs controls, weight fell -3.56% (95% CI, -5.92% to -1.20%; P = .004) with time restricted eating but -1.78% (95% CI, -3.67% to 0.11%; P = .06) with calorie cutting. HbA1c fell similarly in both.

The study at a glance

Type of study
Randomized trial
Who or what was studied
75 people · adults with obesity and type 2 diabetes
What was tested
eating only noon to 8 pm without counting calories, vs 25% daily calorie cutting, vs no change, for 6 months
What it measured
The question itself: weight loss, compared with ordinary calorie cutting
How long
26 weeks
Trial registration
NCT05225337
Who has a stake
Company stake
Author fees for a fasting diet book (The Fastest Diet); consulting fees from Rhythm Pharmaceuticals; DexCom grant and support.
Journal
JAMA network open, 2023
Source
PubMed record 37889487. 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: 75 people.
  • •Lasted 26 weeks.
  • ✓Measured the question itself: weight loss, compared with ordinary calorie cutting.
  • –Company stake: Author fees for a fasting diet book (The Fastest Diet); consulting fees from Rhythm Pharmaceuticals; DexCom grant and support.
  • •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.

  • Open item for a person: Pavlou 2023: abstract gives fasting and calorie cutting each vs control, not the direct gap between them; check full text.

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 reviewer corrected 2 fields after reading the abstract. 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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