Fasting Every Other Day Cuts Weight, Ups Crankiness

Posted on 2005-02-03 05:17:53 in Nutrition |
Shunning food every other day may be a feasible way to slash calories -- if you and those around you don't mind the crankiness that comes with it, according to researchers.

Their study of 16 nonobese men and women looked at the effects of alternate-day fasting, an eating plan that interspersed fasting days with "feasting" days that allowed participants to eat as much as they wanted.

The researchers were interested in whether food deprivation every second day would be easier on people than counting calories on a daily basis, lead author Dr. Eric Ravussin told Reuters Health.

They found that the diet plan was indeed "feasible," at least for the duration of the 3-week study. Overall, the men and women lost an average of 5 pounds, while shedding some body fat.

On the other hand, Ravussin said, "most people were not happy" -- a major problem being the crankiness that erupted on the fasting days and did not abate over the 3 weeks.

Ravussin and his colleagues at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, report the findings in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

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