Research
Macro partitioning
Ramadan fasting significantly reduces fat percentage and absolute fat mass in overweight/obese individuals, but not in those with normal weight, while also causing a smaller, transient loss of fat-free mass.
If you are overweight, Ramadan fasting will likely reduce your body fat percentage. If you are normal weight, your body fat percentage may not change significantly. In all cases, you will lose some lean mass, but you will lose more fat than lean mass. This benefit is temporary and reverses after the fast.
GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
Consistently, there was a significant reduction in fat percentage between pre-Ramadan and post-Ramadan in people with overweight or obesity (−1.46 (95% confidence interval: −2.57 to −0.35) %, p = 0.010), but not in those of normal weight (−0.41 (−1.45 to 0.63) %, p = 0.436).
Why this rating
Meta-analysis data supports subgroup differences, though heterogeneity was high in some subgroups.
Source
Effect of Ramadan Fasting on Weight and Body Composition in Healthy Non-Athlete Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Hamish A. Fernando et al. · Nutrients · 2019
Meta-analysis · 70 studiesCited 244×
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