SynthesisObesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity2017
Extended calorie restriction suppresses overall and specific food cravings: a systematic review and a meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers.
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The trial behind it
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Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed.
- Body shape perception in men and women without obesity during caloric restriction: a secondary analysis from the CALERIE study.Eating and weight disorders : EWD · 2023Trial
- Which strategies to manage problem foods were related to weight loss in a randomized clinical trial?Appetite · 2020Trial
- Changes in Food Cravings and Eating Behavior after a Dietary Carbohydrate Restriction Intervention Trial.Nutrients · 2019Trial
- Change in self-efficacy, eating behaviors and food cravings during two years of calorie restriction in humans without obesity.Appetite · 2019Trial
- A randomized controlled trial of lorcaserin and lifestyle counselling for weight loss maintenance: changes in emotion- and stress-related eating, food cravings and appetite.Clinical obesity · 2018Trial
- Trial
- Effect of Lorcaserin Alone and in Combination with Phentermine on Food Cravings After 12-Week Treatment: A Randomized Substudy.Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) · 2018Trial
- Randomized Controlled Trial of Effects of Behavioral Weight Loss Treatment on Food Cue Reactivity.Nursing researchTrial
- The associations of objective, behaviorally measured hunger and weight-related variables with Food Craving Inventory subscales in adults with obesity.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2026Article
- Potential downsides of calorie restriction.Nature reviews. Endocrinology · 2025Review
- Clinical Considerations of Ultra-processed Food Addiction Across Weight Classes: an Eating Disorder Treatment and Care Perspective.Current addiction reports · 2022Review
- Finding the Sweet Spot: Measurement, Modification, and Application of Sweet Hedonics in Humans.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2021Article
- Food reinforcement and habituation to food are processes related to initiation and cessation of eating.Physiology & behavior · 2021Review
- The Impact of Restrictive and Non-restrictive Dietary Weight Loss Interventions on Neurobehavioral Factors Related to Body Weight Control: the Gaps and Challenges.Current obesity reports · 2021Review
- Mindfulness moderates the relationship between emotional eating and body mass index in a sample of people with cystic fibrosis.Eating and weight disorders : EWD · 2021Article
- Article
- The Psychology of Food Cravings: the Role of Food Deprivation.Current nutrition reports · 2020Review
- Psychological and weight history variables as predictors of short-term weight and body fat mass loss.Obesity science & practice · 2020Article
- Effects of addictive-like eating behaviors on weight loss with behavioral obesity treatment.Journal of behavioral medicine · 2019Article
- A Critical Examination of the Practical Implications Derived from the Food Addiction Concept.Current obesity reports · 2019Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMultiple studies have concluded that calorie restriction for at least 12 weeks is associated with reduced food cravings, while others have shown that calorie restriction may increase food cravings. We addressed this ambiguity in a systematic review and meta-analysis.
methodsWe searched for studies conducted on subjects with obesity, implemented calorie restriction for at least 12 weeks and measured food cravings pre-intervention and post-intervention. Our final eight studies mostly used the Food Craving Inventory. Other comparable methods were converted to a similar scale. We used the duration ≥12 weeks, but closest to 16 weeks for studies with multiple follow-ups and performed DerSimonian-Laird random-effects meta-analyses using the 'metafor' package in r software.
resultsDespite heterogeneity across studies, we observed reductions in pooled effects for overall food cravings (-0.246 [-0.490, -0.001]) as well as cravings for sweet (-0.410 [-0.626, -0.194]), high-fat (-0.190 [-0.343, -0.037]), starchy (-0.288 [-0.517, -0.058]) and fast food (-0.340 [-0.633, -0.048]) in the meta-analysis. Baseline body weight, type of intervention, duration, sample size and percentage of female subjects explained the heterogeneity.
conclusionsCalorie restriction is associated with reduced food cravings supporting a de-conditioning model of craving reductions. Our findings should ease the minds of clinicians concerned about increased cravings in patients undergoing calorie restriction interventions.
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