Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41770479›Full record

ReviewReviews in endocrine & metabolic disorders2026

Efficacy of different types of intermittent fasting in improving glycemic control in adults with overweight or obesity: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.

Mousa Khalafi, Aref Habibi Maleki, Faeghe Ghasemi, Mahsa Ehsanifar, Michael E Symonds, Sara K Rosenkranz, Grant M Tinsley, Mahdis Kopaei Malek, Samin Vakil, Hossein Rafiei

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In one paragraph

Review in Reviews in endocrine & metabolic disorders, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
  2. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Mousa KhalafiDepartment of Sport Sciences, Faculty of Humanities, University of Kashan, Kashan, Iran. Mousa.khalafi@kashanu.ac.ir.
Aref Habibi MalekiPhysiology Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Faeghe GhasemiDepartment of Exercise Physiology, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Guilan, Guilan, Iran.
Mahsa EhsanifarDepartment of Exercise Physiology and Corrective Exercises, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran.
Michael E SymondsCentre for Perinatal Research, Academic Unit of Population and Lifespan Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
Sara K RosenkranzDepartment of Kinesiology and Nutrition Sciences, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV, USA.
Grant M TinsleyDepartment of Kinesiology & Sport Management, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA.
Mahdis Kopaei MalekDepartment of Sport Sciences, Faculty of Humanities, University of Kashan, Kashan, Iran.
Samin VakilDepartment of Sport Sciences, Faculty of Humanities, University of Kashan, Kashan, Iran.
Hossein RafieiDepartment of Nutrition and Dietetics, Saint Louis University, Saint Louis, MO, USA. hossein.rafiei@health.slu.edu.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Intermittent fasting (IF) aids the management of obesity and impaired glucose homeostasis, although the comparative efficacy of different modes of IF on glycemic control remains unclear. The current review therefore aimed to investigate the efficacy of a range of IF regimes on glycemic control in individuals with overweight and obesity. A comprehensive search was conducted in the main databases including PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus from inception to March 2025 using the three groups of keywords including “intermittent fasting”, “glycemia”, and “obesity”. Eligible studies were those investigating any mode of IF including time restricted eating (TRE), alternate day fasting diet (ADF), or the 5:2 diet compared either of caloric restriction (CR) or a non-intervention control (CON) on at least one glycemic control outcomes, including fasting glucose, fasting insulin, insulin resistance, or HbA1c (%). Standardized mean differences (SMD) or weighted mean differences (WMD) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using random effect model for network meta-analysis. Thirty-eight studies including a total of 3,237 overweight or obese participants were included in the meta-analysis. Compared with a CON, TRE resulted in a larger reduction in fasting glucose [WMD: -0.22 mmol/L (95% CI -0.36 to -0.08), p = 0.001], insulin resistance [SMD: -0.56 (95% CI -1.04 to -0.08), p = 0.02], HbA1c (%) [WMD: -0.25% (95% CI -0.44 to -0.05), p = 0.01]. Additionally, ADF resulted in a greater reduction in insulin resistance [SMD: -0.78 (95% CI -1.50 to -0.06), p = 0.03] and insulin [SMD: -0.57 (95% CI -1.15 to 0.001), p = 0.05]. Compared with CER, neither of the IF modes significantly reduced fasting insulin. IF can be a powerful approach to improve insulin sensitivity and glucose homeostasis in adults with excess weight, with TRE and ADF being the most effective approaches.

Indexed as

Alternate day fasting dietHbA1cInsulin resistanceIntermittent fastingObesityTime restricted eating

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.