Intermittent fasting (IF) has recently gained much public interest as a weight loss approach. IF is a unique dietary strategy defined as periods of eating alternated with periods of not eating (fasting). IF focuses on when food is consumed and total quantity consumed… jamanetwork.com, Intermittent Fasting and Obesity-Related Health Outcomes, Chanthawat Patikorn, PharmD, MSc1; Kiera Roubal, PharmD2; Sajesh K. Veettil, PhD, 2021
Clinical trials have demonstrated the benefits of IF for many health conditions, especially obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases, through reduced weight and improved cardiometabolic parameters.
Several systematic reviews and meta-analyses of randomized clinical trials (RCTs) have been published and demonstrated several health benefits of IF as well.
However, many of these meta-analyses focused on a subset of types of IF or specific health outcomes. To date, there has been little synthesis of the strength and quality of this evidence in aggregate.
This umbrella review aimed to systematically identify relevant meta-analyses of RCTs of IF, summarize their findings, and assess the strength of evidence to provide an aggregate picture of benefits associated with each type of IF on obesity-related health outcomes.