Research

Energy balance

Intermittent fasting does not significantly affect Glycosylated Hemoglobin (HbA1c), Low-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (LDL-C), or High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (HDL-C) compared to control diets.

If your primary goal is to lower LDL cholesterol or improve HbA1c, intermittent fasting alone may not be sufficient. While it helps with weight, blood pressure, and triglycerides, it does not significantly change LDL, HDL, or long-term blood sugar markers (HbA1c). You may need to combine IF with other dietary strategies or medications to address these specific markers.

GoodRefutesHIGH confidence
No effects were observed for low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, or glycosylated hemoglobin.
Fan Yang et al. · Frontiers in Nutrition · 2021

Why this rating

Based on the same high-quality meta-analysis as N1.

Source

Effect of Epidemic Intermittent Fasting on Cardiometabolic Risk Factors: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Fan Yang et al. · Frontiers in Nutrition · 2021

DOI 10.3389/fnut.2021.669325

Meta-analysis · 46 studiesCited 54×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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