Intermittent fasting requires a healthy diet. Courtesy | Alexis Daniels 

Many influencers such as podcaster and comedian Joe Rogan and biomedical scientist Rhonda Patrick have popularized intermittent fasting as a way to lose weight and become healthier.

Intermittent fasting has gained popularity because of its easy implementation. It simply involves narrowing the time period in which you consume calories. For many, this can be as straightforward as skipping breakfast.

Intermittent fasting, dismissed by some academics like professor Alice Lichtenstein as a fad diet, has scientific data to support it as a means to lose weight and deal with certain metabolic disorders, such as insulin resistance.

Researchers found evidence in a 2022 study that intermittent fasting can help remedy some of the symptoms of prediabetes, including obesity and hypertension. 

Some dieticians or influencers, like Brittany Jones, object to intermittent fasting on the grounds that it is still possible to gain weight, depending on what you eat within the time window.

This is true, but intermittent fasting isn’t meant to replace a healthy diet. The purpose of intermittent fasting is to put you into a caloric deficit, in which your body burns more calories than it stores as fat. If you eat calorically dense foods in large quantities, the time window in which you consume them will not be able to completely undo the negative impact of a bad diet.

If you are able to keep a consistent caloric intake, intermittent fasting is an easier way to achieve a caloric deficit, and it also can have hormonal benefits such as increasing insulin sensitivity — which causes your body to use glucose from food more effectively.

 The University of Alabama conducted a study with a small group of obese men with prediabetes. One subgroup in the study practiced “early time-restricted feeding,” where all meals fit into an early eight-hour period of the day, and the other subgroup ate over a more “normal” period of 12 hours for five weeks. 

Both groups maintained the same weight because their caloric intake was the same, but the intermittent fasting group had lower insulin levels, greater insulin sensitivity, and lower blood pressure than the control group. 

In a real-life scenario, intermittent fasting could conceivably contribute to a lower caloric intake, which would lead to weight loss. Additionally, the long-term benefits of increased insulin sensitivity often include weight loss.

Another objection to the benefits of intermittent fasting is that it may slow down metabolism, the process of converting food into energy. When people consume less food, their bodies can adapt to the caloric deficit by requiring less energy and becoming more efficient. 

This can be a problem with intermittent fasting, but it can be avoided by cycling through fasting periods — allowing for  “on-days” and “off-days.”  This means that your body is less likely to adapt to the caloric deficit, so you will still be burning energy at a similar rate.

While it isn’t a magic bullet, intermittent fasting can be a healthy, safe way to lose weight and deal with health concerns. Don’t dismiss it as a fad.