Search

BACKGROUND Overweight and obesity among adults is a growing global public health threat and an essential risk factor for various non-communicable diseases. Although intermittent fasting is a generally new dietary approach to weight management that has been increasingly practised worldwide, the effectiveness of two-days per week dry fasting is still unclear. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to determine the cardiometabolic, anthropometric, dietary intake and quality of life changes among overweight and obese civil servants following combined Intermittent Fasting and Healthy Plate (IFHP) and Healthy Plate (HP), and to explore the participants’ experience. METHODS We designed a mixed-method quasi-experimental study that evaluates the effectiveness of IFHP and HP methods among overweight and obese adults. A total of 177 participants were recruited in this study, of which 91 were allocated in the IFHP group and 86 in the HP group. The intervention comprised two phases; supervised (12 weeks) and unsupervised (12 weeks). The data collection was conducted during baseline, after the supervised phase (at week 12), and after the unsupervised phase (at week 24). For each participant, serum and whole blood were collected for analysis. Data on socio-demographic, quality of life, physical activity and dietary intake were also obtained using questionnaires during data collection. RESULTS The majority of the participants were females (n=147, 83.7%) and Malays (n=141, 79.6%). The expected outcomes of this study are changes in body weight, body compositions, quality of life, physical activity, dietary intake and cardiometabolic parameters such as fasting blood glucose, 2-hour post prandial blood glucose, HbA1C, fasting insulin and lipid profile. CONCLUSIONS The CAIFA study is a mixed-method study to evaluate the effectiveness of intermittent fasting on cardiometabolic and anthropometric parameters and to explore participants’ experience throughout the study. CLINICALTRIAL ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05034653

Background Overweight and obesity among adults are a growing global public health threat and an essential risk factor for various noncommunicable diseases. Although intermittent fasting is a generally new dietary approach to weight management that has been increasingly practiced worldwide, the effectiveness of 2 days per week dry fasting remains unclear. Objective The Cardiometabolic and Anthropometric Outcomes of Intermittent Fasting study aims to determine the cardiometabolic, anthropometric, dietary intake, and quality of life changes among civil servants with overweight and obesity, following combined intermittent fasting and healthy plate (IFHP) and healthy plate (HP) and explore the participants’ experiences. Methods We designed a mixed methods quasi-experimental study to evaluate the effectiveness of the IFHP and HP methods among adults with overweight and obesity. A total of 177 participants were recruited for this study, of which 91 (51.4%) were allocated to the IFHP group and 86 (48.6%) to the HP group. The intervention comprised 2 phases: supervised (12 weeks) and unsupervised (12 weeks). Data collection was conducted at baseline, after the supervised phase (week 12), and after the unsupervised phase (week 24). Serum and whole blood samples were collected from each participant for analysis. Data on sociodemographic factors, quality of life, physical activity, and dietary intake were also obtained using questionnaires during data collection. Results Most of the participants were female (147/177, 83.1%) and Malay (141/177, 79.7%). The expected outcomes of this study are changes in body weight, body composition, quality of life, physical activity, dietary intake, and cardiometabolic parameters such as fasting blood glucose, 2-hour postprandial blood glucose, hemoglobin A1c, fasting insulin, and lipid profile. Conclusions The Cardiometabolic and Anthropometric Outcomes of Intermittent Fasting study is a mixed methods study to evaluate the effectiveness of combined IFHP and HP interventions on cardiometabolic and anthropometric parameters and explore participants’ experiences throughout the study. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05034653; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05034653 International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) RR1-10.2196/33801