A new study is suggesting that intermittent fasting is a good alternative compared to traditional dieting for people with type 2 diabetes.
Thus according to Krista Varady, PhD, the author of the research paper; patients living with type 2 diabetes lost about 25 percent more weight by eating any food, but only within an eight-hour window, than people who were instructed to cut their calories.
What does the paper say about intermittent fasting?
Sun Kim, MD, an associate professor of medicine and an endocrinologist, has hinted that intermittent fasting which is otherwise known as time-restricted eating could be a better option to discuss with patients with type 2 diabetes especially when the instructions to follow are simple.
The paper also indicated that about 90 percent of participants who were studied were Hispanic and Black – an effort the authors believe could help generate a useful treatment option for sufferers as diabetes is mostly prevalent amongst such groups.
Again, the paper also revealed that participants who were on time-restricted eating lost twice as much weight as participants who were on diet.
Intermittent fasting may be easier to follow than traditional dieting methods
The author of the paper believes intermittent fasting may be easier for patients to comply to than counting calories because
- From the paper’s adherence data, the time-restricted eating group was more adherent to their diet than the calorie restriction group
- Most participants in the intermittent fasting group reported that the diet was easy to follow, and at least half the participants in the calorie-restriction group reported the diet was difficult to follow
Finally, the paper also proved that although weight loss for the different test variables were different, the average blood and sugar levels for both groups were same. The authors however speculate that, the similar reductions in the visceral fat and waist circumference of participants in both groups could attribute to that.
Key Points
- The Question; Is time-restricted eating without calorie counting more effective for weight loss and lowering of hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels compared with daily calorie restriction (CR) in adults with type 2 diabetes (T2D)?
- The answer; A randomized 6-month clinical trial which involved 75 adults with Type 2 Diabetes,shows that intermittent fasting is more effective for weight loss (−3.6%) than traditional dieting (−1.8%) compared with controls. However, changes in HbA1c levels did not differ between the intermittent fasting (−0.91%) and traditional dieting (−0.94%) groups compared with controls.
- What does this mean?;This finding suggests that intermittent fasting may be an effective alternative strategy to traditional dieting for lowering body weight and HbA1c levels in patients with type 2 diabetes.
Reference
Effect of Time-Restricted Eating on Weight Loss in Adults With Type 2 Diabetes