Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Formative Research
Date Submitted: Aug 3, 2023
Open Peer Review Period: Aug 3, 2023 - Aug 17, 2023
Date Accepted: Feb 6, 2024
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
The Effect of Combined Intermittent Fasting Healthy Plate Intervention on Anthropometric Outcomes and Body Composition among Overweight and Obese Adults: Non-Randomized Controlled Trial
ABSTRACT
Background:
Adult obesity and overweight pose a significant risk to global public health and are associated with various non-communicable diseases. The effectiveness of two days per week of dry fasting is yet unknown, even though intermittent fasting is a relatively new dietary strategy for weight loss that is becoming more widely used.
Objective:
We designed this study with the aim to evaluate the effectiveness of a combined dry intermittent fasting and healthy plate (IFHP) and healthy plate (HP) intervention in improving anthropometric outcomes and body composition.
Methods:
This non-randomized controlled trial involved 177 adults with overweight and obesity, of whom 91 (51.4%) were allocated to the IFHP group and 86 (48.6%) to the HP group. There were two phases of the intervention: supervised (3 months) and unsupervised (3 months). Data was collected at baseline, after the supervised phase (month 3), and after the unsupervised phase (month 6). Anthropometric (weight, height, waist circumference, and hip circumference) and body composition (body fat percentage, body fat mass, skeletal muscle mass, and visceral fat area) data were measured at all 3 points of data collection. Sociodemographic data was obtained using a questionnaire at baseline.
Results:
Most of the participants were female (N=147/177, 83.1%) and Malays (N=141/177, 79.7%). After three months, there were significant reductions in weight (difference -1.680, P<.001), body mass index (BMI) (difference -0.620, P<.001), body fat percentage (difference -0.921, P<.001), body fat mass (difference -1.280, P<.001), and visceral fat area (difference -4.227, P=.008) in IFHP group, while no significant changes was observed in HP group. Comparing to baseline, participants in IFHP group showed a significant decrease in weight (difference -1.428, P=.003), BMI (difference -0.522, P=.005), body fat percentage (difference -1.591, P<.001), body fat mass (difference -1.501, P<.001), visceral fat area (difference -7.130, P<.001), waist circumference (difference -2.304, P=.001), and hip circumference (difference -1.908, P=.002) at month 6. During the unsupervised phase, waist and hip circumferences were significantly reduced in both groups (P<.01), while skeletal muscle mass (difference 0.208, P=.04) and visceral fat area (difference -2.903, P=.003) were significantly improved in IFHP group only. No significant difference in between-group comparison was detected throughout the intervention (P>.05).
Conclusions:
A combined intermittent fasting and healthy plate intervention was effective for improving anthropometric outcomes and body composition in adults with overweight and obesity. Clinical Trial: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05034653
Citation
Request queued. Please wait while the file is being generated. It may take some time.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.