A randomized controlled trial recently published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found little difference between an intermittent calorie-restricted diet and a traditional continuous calorie-restricted diet. This well-conducted study followed 150 overweight or obese participants for fifty weeks. Participants were randomly assigned to follow a diet with intermittent calorie restriction (five days per week of regular calorie intake and two days per week with a 75 percent reduction in caloric intake), a diet with daily calorie restriction (a daily twenty percent reduction in caloric intake), or no intervention. Over the course of 50 weeks, the intermittent-restriction diet did not show a significant difference in weight loss, metabolic lab values, body composition, or gene expression of fat cells when compared to the continuous-restriction diet. Because both diets proved to be similarly practical and beneficial for the overweight and obese study participants, intermittent calorie restriction may be an alternative dieting approach for individuals who can tolerate it well.
