Start intermittent fasting to get on the fast track to weight loss, says research

Decades of research has shown that calorie restriction offers a bunch of benefits in animals including better blood sugar control, longer life spans and yes, weight reduction. It is commonly assumed that a reduced calorie intake drives these benefits.

However, new research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison shows that a calorie reduction alone is not enough and fasting is essential to derive all the complete benefits. The new findings published in the journal Nature Metabolism supports growing evidence that fasting diets may offer health benefits.

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Conducted on mice, the study found that fasting alone, without reducing the amount of food eaten, was just as powerful as calorie restriction with fasting. It improved insulin sensitivity and was even able to reprogram metabolism to focus more on using fats as a source of energy.

Meanwhile, a separate study from the University of Illinois Chicago found that intermittent fasting was effective in weight loss and improved metabolic health in obese individuals as well. But it may be no better than regular dieting.

Published in the Annual Review of Nutrition, the study discovered that all forms of fasting produced mild to moderate weight loss, 1-8 per cent from the base weight. Assessing 25 studies on three types of intermittent fasting, the review showed that time-restricted dieting helped in the loss of 3 per cent of body weight on average regardless of the eating window.

Krista Varady, lead author of the review further added that time-restricted eating basically helps you eat a little bit less and that's why people tend to lose weight.

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