Evidence summaries on fasting and metabolic health

fasting.com

Cited guides to fasting basics, intermittent fasting, water-only fasting, and the fasting-mimicking diet.

Fasting methods

Four areas are covered here, each with its own guide and its own citations.

Fasting basics

What fasting is, what changes in the body, and what the cited research does and does not show about common claims such as autophagy, gut health, and detox.

Intermittent fasting

Daily and weekly eating-window schedules, such as 16:8 and 5:2, and what the cited research says about starting and sustaining them.

Water-only fasting

Longer fasts using only water, including what the research shows on safety and results, and how to break a fast safely afterward.

Fasting-mimicking diet

A low-calorie, low-protein eating pattern designed to produce some of the metabolic effects of fasting while still eating.

How We Source These Pages

Every page on this site is built from published research, cited by name, with a visible "Last reviewed" date so you can see how current it is. "Last reviewed" means editorial review by the fasting.com team, not a medical review; no page here is a substitute for talking to a clinician about your own situation.

Recently reviewed
PageLast reviewedReferences
How Long Until Autophagy From Fasting? 15
Do Detox and Cleanse Diets Work? The Evidence 8
Fasting and Gut Health: What We Know 14
What the Research Shows About Fasting 19
What Is Fasting? 7
What Is a Fasting-Mimicking Diet (FMD)? 19
FMD Research: What the Studies Actually Show 19
16:8 Intermittent Fasting: What to Know 12
Alternate-Day Fasting (ADF): The Evidence 17
How to Start Intermittent Fasting 12