2023-07-07 07:13:08
Intermittent fasting, i.e. limiting the period of time for food intake, is easier for some people than counting calories.
Apparently, the hype surrounding certain weight loss strategies is misplaced. Whether intermittent fasting or calorie counting – the results are about the same. Apparently the only thing that matters is the calorie reduction. This is the result of a new study from the USA. A new drug could even reduce body weight by almost a quarter.
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago enrolled 90 obese adults in the Chicago area for a research study. They were randomly divided into three groups: One third limited their food intake to eight hours, i.e. from noon to 8 p.m. in the evening. A second third, on the other hand, counted the calories consumed and should reach minus 25 percent. The third group served as a comparison without intervention.
Choice of acceptance strategy of little relevance
The observation period was one year. Overall, 77 of the initial 90 subjects, with a median age of 40, completed the study, which was funded by the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH). The main result, which above all suggests that the way in which less calorie intake is achieved, should be fairly irrelevant: during intermittent fasting, the test subjects consumed an average of 425 kilocalories less per day. In the second group, with the goal of minus 25 percent calorie intake, it was minus 405 kilocalories per day less. After 12 months, the test subjects had lost an average of 4.61 kg more body weight than the people in the control group (no intervention) through intermittent fasting, compared to minus 5.42 kg under calorie restriction, as Sdhuhao Lin and the co-authors wrote. The difference was not statistically significant.
The current scientific study thus showed a very similar result to a scientific study from China, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in spring 2022. The researchers randomly assigned 139 obese patients to either a time-dependent calorie restriction group (eating only between 8 am and 4 pm) or calorie restriction alone. For 12 months, all participants were to follow a diet of 1,500 calories per day for men and 1,200 to 1,500 calories per day for women. The subjects were between 18 and 75 years old. The body mass index (BMI) was between 28 (obesity is usually defined as a BMI of 30) and 45, which means extremely obese. The recommended diet was composed of 40 to 55 percent carbohydrates, 15 to 20 percent protein and 20 to 30 percent fat in terms of calories. Overall, the calorie intake should be reduced by about a quarter compared to the diet before the start of the study.
118 of the participants finally completed the scientific investigation, the rest had dropped out beforehand. When comparing the two groups, however, it turned out that intermittent fasting and calorie restriction alone did not make a statistically significant difference. The test persons in the intermittent fasting group lost an average of eight kilograms within one year, in the comparison group it was 6.3 kilograms weight reduction. There was also no statistically significant difference in waist circumference, body fat percentage, blood pressure and other metabolic risk factors. Regarding the results, it is noted that intermittent fasting appears to be easier for some people. You save yourself from counting calories.
Hype about “weight loss medication”
Another study has caused a stir in the scientific and pharmaceutical scene in the past few days: In a phase II clinical study (also to determine the optimal dose of a new drug), obese people who were taking the active ingredient Relatrutide once a week skin injected lost up to 24.2 percent of their initial weight after just under a year. These are results that have not previously been achievable with a “weight loss drug” and are close to those of surgical interventions (“stomach bypass” etc.).
Relatrutide inhibits three endogenous hormones that are related to sugar metabolism. The research was presented at the annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and also appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine on June 26th. There is currently a real hype in the USA and other countries about drugs that were actually developed for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. However, they also have some unpleasant side effects such as nausea and vomiting. (APA/red)
>>> to the University of Illinois study
>>> to the study from China
>>> to the study about Relatrutide
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