which study that compared them found

Whether to criticize or congratulate her, there has been a lot of talk lately about the implications that intermittent fasting diets – that is, going a certain number of hours or even days of the week without eating food – could lead to weight loss.

However, despite what many experts argue to recommend it, a new study (one of the first to analyze the effects of fasting and energy restriction in thin people) is showing bleak evidence, indicating that these types of diets would offer fewer advantages for fat reduction than a traditional diet.

Specifically, the three-week randomized trial that included 36 participants have found that an alternate-day intermittent fasting schedule offers fewer benefits for fat reduction than a conventional combined diet, which limits daily energy intake.

In short, one of the most important implications of the study is to demonstrate that alternate-day fasting may not offer metabolic benefits or the specific health of this practice compared to a standard daily diet.

Remember that one of the reasons why this diet is recommended is the possibility of triggering a metabolic change in energy which, in addition to promoting weight loss, is associated with greater longevity and lower incidence of disease, including cancer and obesity.

As stated, intermittent fasting involves alternating voluntary fasting periods with others in which food is ingested. There are many ways to do this, with different schedules, ranging from abstaining from eating part of the day to the popular 5: 2 diet (eating 5 days a week and fasting 2 days) to fasting every other day ( eat one day, quickly the next).

Many followers of this nutritional model claim that fasting schedules are relatively easy to adopt and stick to, and theories suggest that fasting can trigger beneficial changes in the metabolism which promote weight loss.

However, few studies have examined the specific effects of fasting intermittent or compared its effects with diets that simply reduce net daily calories.

Three experiences

Iain Templeman – of the Center for Nutrition, Exercise and Metabolism in the Department of Health at the University of Bath – and his colleagues were recruited 36 slim participants and they divided them into 3 groups of 12, who went on different diets for 3 weeks.

The first group followed a restricted fasting diet every other day, consuming the 150% of your energy intake everyday usual only on certain days.

The second group followed a no-fast diet of an equal amount of energy with a 75% of daily energy intake, which would represent a classic diet in which the amount of calories ingested is reduced.

And the latter group followed a two-day fasting diet without restriction of energy intake, which would result in 200% daily intake of energy every two days.

After 3 weeks, the second group showed the greatest weight loss, with an average decrease in fat of 1.57 kg. Meanwhile, the first group of alternate-day fasts lost fat less effectively (an average of 0.74 kg) and the last group showed no significant drop in weight or fat.

Further studies showed that there were no significant differences in cardiometabolic health, metabolic molecules, or gene expression in fat cells between the 3 groups.

Templeman noted that alternate-day fasts tended to be less active days compared to what participants had before starting the diet, which could be a factor affecting fat loss. For this reason, the authors believe that people who plan to fast alternate days should be sure to include some physical activity to maintain your energy expenditure.