Fasting and metabolic syndrome: A systematic review and Meta-analyses

Abstract

Objective: Fasting is considered to be a food structure that can improve body health. Several randomized clinical trials (RCTs) have investigated the effects of fasting in patients with metabolic syndrome (MS). In this review, we performed a meta-analysis to assess the effects of fasting on patients with MS. Methods: Following PRISMA guidelines, a systematic literature search was conducted in PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Central updated to September 2021. The quality evaluation and heterogeneity detection of the included research literature were carried out by Revman and Stata software through a random-effects model. Results: A total of 268 subjects were included. The pooled results revealed that fasting significantly reduced body weight (WMD: −2.48 kg, 95% CI: −3.22, −1.74), BMI (WMD = −2.72 cm; 95%CI: −4.04, −1.40 cm), body fat percent (WMD: −1.57%, 95%CI: −2.47, −0.68), insulin level (WMD: −2.45 mmol/L; 95%CI: −4.40, −0.49 mmol/L) and HOMA-IR (WMD:-0.65 mmol/L; 95%CI: −0.90, −0.41 mmol/L) in patients with MS, whereas had no effect on glucose, blood pressure and lipids profile. Conclusions: Our findings provide insights into the effect of fasting on the anthropometric outcomes, insulin resistance, and gut microbiota in MS.

Keywords:

• Meta analyses
• fasting
• metabolic syndrome
• glucose-lipid metabolism
• insulin

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was financially supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2019YFC1606200), National Natural Science Foundation of China (32172136), Jiangsu distinguished professor project and Talent plan of Taihu Lake.