Research

Hormonal

A modest reduced-calorie diet does not significantly alter plasma levels of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) or glycemic factors (glucose, insulin, HOMA-IR) in overweight/obese adults with cardiovascular risk factors over a two-month period.

While cutting calories helps your cholesterol and blood pressure, it might not immediately change your blood sugar levels or brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels in just two months. This doesn't mean the diet isn't working; it means these specific markers may take longer to respond or may not respond in everyone, especially if you are already on medication. Focus on the improvements you can see, like weight and lipid profiles.

GoodRefutesHIGH confidence
There was no significant difference in plasma levels of BDNF between the two groups at the end of the study... no significant post-intervention differences in glucose and insulin.
Javad Nasrollahzadeh et al. · International Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism · 2023

Why this rating

RCT design, but small sample size limits power to detect subtle changes.

Source

Effect of a Reduced-Calorie Diet on Plasma Levels of Inflammatory and Metabolic Factors in Overweight/Obese Patients with Cardiovascular Risk Factors

Javad Nasrollahzadeh et al. · International Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism · 2023

DOI 10.5812/ijem-135216

rct · n=66Cited 4×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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