Evidence summaries on fasting and metabolic health

fasting.com

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

What Is a Fasting-Mimicking Diet (FMD)?

A 5-day precision nutrition programme developed by USC, Harvard and Stanford to mimic the benefits of fasting while eating food. It was awarded the first patent on reversing biological age by 2.5 years, balancing weight, cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar through a Nobel Prize winning phenomenon called autophagy, or cellular rejuvenation. Basically it gets cells younger and healthier.

By the fasting.com team

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Last reviewed . How pages are reviewed

Medical caution

This is general information about fasting, not medical advice. Fasting can affect blood sugar, blood pressure, medication timing, and nutritional status. Talk to a clinician before starting or changing a fasting practice if you are pregnant, under 18, living with diabetes or another chronic condition, taking prescription medication, or have a history of an eating disorder.

How an FMD Differs From Water Fasting or Daily Intermittent Fasting

A fasting-mimicking diet is not the same as water fasting, which involves no food at all, and it is not the same as daily intermittent fasting, which cycles between eating and fasting windows most days. An FMD instead allows a small amount of specific, low-calorie food for several days in a row, aiming to produce some of the metabolic effects of fasting (falling insulin, a shift toward fat and ketone metabolism) while still eating something.

What a Typical FMD Cycle Looks Like

Described generally: an FMD cycle is a low-calorie, low-protein, plant-based eating pattern, higher in unsaturated fat than a typical diet, followed for around five consecutive days, then repeated periodically, such as once a month (Wei et al., 2017) [1]. The specific calorie levels and food composition used in published research were designed as a complete dietary program for those five days, not as a single meal or supplement.

Where the Idea Came From: Mouse and Human Pilot Research

The foundational research behind FMD is primarily a mouse and yeast study. In mice, cycles of a fasting-mimicking diet extended lifespan, lowered visceral fat, reduced cancer incidence and skin lesions, and improved markers of immune and cognitive function in old mice. The same paper also included a small human pilot trial, which found that three FMD cycles decreased several risk-factor biomarkers for aging, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer, without major adverse effects (Brandhorst et al., 2015) [2]. It matters which result came from which species: the lifespan, organ-regeneration, cancer-incidence, and cognitive findings are mouse results, and only the risk-factor-biomarker finding comes from the small human pilot. A separate, later mouse study found monthly FMD cycles blocked most of the harmful effects of a high-fat, high-calorie diet in female mice, preventing obesity, high blood sugar, and high cholesterol without reducing lean body mass in those mice (Mishra et al., 2021) [10]; this, too, is 100% animal data with no human component, and this page does not treat either mouse finding as evidence about what an FMD does in people.

Several of this page's citations share authors, or disclose a funding or competing-interest tie, stated as a plain fact about the evidence base in the "Authors and funding of the cited studies" section of the evidence box below.

What Human Trials Have Found So Far

A meta-analysis pooling 11 qualified studies (12 sub-studies, 761 participants total) of FMD, the broadest completeness check available for this page, found significant reductions in HbA1c, IGF-1, systolic blood pressure, and diastolic blood pressure, but no significant effect on the other cardiovascular risk factors it checked, and its own introduction describes the findings across the underlying FMD trials it pooled as "inconsistent" (Mohammadzadeh et al., 2025) [13]. In the authors' sensitivity analyses, the IGF-1 reduction was no longer significant without either a trial in women receiving chemotherapy for breast cancer (not cited on this page) or Wei et al., 2017, and the blood-pressure reductions were no longer significant without Tang and Lin, 2020 (Mohammadzadeh et al., 2025) [13]. Individual trials add detail within that pooled picture. In 100 people with type 2 diabetes managed with metformin alone or diet alone, adding a monthly FMD cycle to usual primary care, under ongoing clinician supervision, reduced the need for glucose-lowering medication, improved HbA1c, and reduced body weight over 12 months, with 18 of 100 participants lost to follow-up (van den Burg et al., 2024) [3]; that result is specific to a supervised primary-care setting and should not be read as general advice to reduce one's own medication. A 2025 trial led by a University of Nottingham group compared a low-protein and a high-protein version of a 7-day FMD against a non-intervention control in 46 healthy adults and found both versions reduced body weight, fat mass, fasting glucose, and IGF-1, with the high-protein version additionally improving visceral fat, triglycerides, and gut-microbiome diversity, markers the low-protein version did not move (Burns et al., 2025) [5]; this is useful evidence that an FMD's macronutrient design is not one-size-fits-all. An 8-day, open-label pilot randomized 30 healthy adults, in three arms of about 10 each, to one of two FMD formulations or their usual diet, and found a significant difference between groups in weight, fasting glucose, and a lab marker of autophagy from baseline to day 6, though the authors state plainly that the differences were not significant at every time point measured (Espinoza et al., 2026) [7]. On a specific safety question, muscle function, a separate trial found three FMD cycles did not change neuromuscular force production or muscle volume in 24 physically active young men (Nardon et al., 2022) [9], a reassuring, though narrow, finding limited to young healthy men. Two smaller trials in the same pool add further support: a 4-month trial of an FMD-based meal-replacement regimen in 100 people with type 2 diabetes improved fasting glucose, HbA1c, blood pressure, and lipids more than a comparison meal-replacement regimen (Tang and Lin, 2020) [16], and a single 5-day FMD cycle in 24 healthy volunteers lowered a diet-derived cardiometabolic marker (TMAO), which did not fall in a randomized vegetable-only comparison group, and lowered IGF-1 and HOMA-IR from baseline (Videja et al., 2022) [17].

IGF-1 reduction comes up repeatedly as a supportive finding above, but it is worth reading alongside a separate line of background research: a meta-analysis of 19 human cohort studies (30,876 participants) found a U-shaped relationship between IGF-1 and all-cause mortality, where both low and high IGF-1 levels carried more risk than a mid-range level (Rahmani et al., 2022) [11]. That means an intervention that lowers IGF-1 is not automatically a benefit on its own; how far it lowers IGF-1, and from what starting point, matters too, a nuance the trials above do not test directly.

Not every trial agrees on the headline numbers, and comparisons against other approaches, or against a specific outcome rather than a weight-loss average, do not consistently favor FMD. A 2-month trial of 5-day FMD cycles in 60 women with obesity found no significant difference in weight loss between FMD and ordinary calorie restriction (CR -2.29 kg vs FMD -1.13 kg, p=0.06), with FMD's apparent edge, where one existed, showing up in body composition and appetite-hormone measures rather than the scale (Sadeghian et al., 2021) [6]. In people with type 2 diabetes specifically, a network meta-analysis of 13 trials (867 people) found FMD, twice-weekly fasting, time-restricted eating, and periodic fasting all improved glucose control versus a conventional diet, but found no significant difference between the four regimens themselves; twice-weekly fasting, not FMD, ranked best on a composite score (Xiaoyu, Yuxin, and Li, 2024) [12]. A trial testing FMD against a glycocalyx supplement and a placebo in 56 South-Asian Surinamese adults with type 2 diabetes found a temporary improvement in BMI and HbA1c with FMD, but on the trial's primary microvascular-health outcome, FMD was not able to preserve microvascular endothelial function (van der Velden et al., 2024) [18]. A trial comparing FMD against a Mediterranean diet in overweight, hypertensive adults found no significant difference between the two diets on any measure at the end of the intervention period, and no lean-mass loss in the FMD group, unlike the Mediterranean-diet group. Within the FMD group specifically, one endothelial marker (reactive hyperemia index) decreased significantly from baseline; the authors interpret this as more likely reflecting vascular rejuvenation than impaired vascular function, citing the improved cardiometabolic profile seen alongside it (Mishra, Fanti, et al., 2023) [19]. A 6-month trial in 40 people with type 2 diabetes and diabetic kidney disease found monthly FMD cycles did not significantly change albuminuria, its primary outcome, compared with a Mediterranean diet, though a subgroup with microalbuminuria at baseline did improve, and some participants on insulin were included under a supervised dose-adjustment protocol (Sulaj et al., 2022) [15]. A broader review pooling FMD together with other fasting regimens, rather than isolating FMD's effect, found a significant decrease in the appetite hormones leptin and ghrelin but no significant change in adiponectin or resistin (Tavakoli et al., 2025) [14]; because it pools regimens, it supports a general statement about fasting and appetite hormones more than an FMD-specific one. A trial in 45 healthy women found FMD maintained skin texture over 71 days, while roughness increased in the control group, alongside improved skin hydration, a cosmetic rather than a disease-related outcome (Maloh et al., 2023) [4].

What the Research Does Not Yet Show

None of the trials on this page show that an FMD cures, treats, or prevents any disease. The first randomized FMD trial in generally healthy adults states directly that cycles of FMD reduce markers and risk factors associated with aging, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, and that larger studies in people with diagnosed disease are still needed to confirm any effect on disease prevention or treatment (Wei et al., 2017) [1]. Most human FMD trials to date are short (one to several months) and small (fewer than 150 participants), and more than one trial found no advantage over a comparison diet on its primary outcome (Sadeghian et al., 2021 [6]; van der Velden et al., 2024 [18]; Sulaj et al., 2022 [15]). A separate 12-week trial used the term "FMD" to mean something different, daily 16-hour time-restricted eating rather than a periodic low-calorie protocol, which is a reminder that the term is not always used consistently in the wider literature (Khodadadi et al., 2024) [8]; that trial's results are not counted as evidence about the FMD described on this page.

Who Should Not Try an FMD Without a Clinician

Two trials in type 2 diabetes enrolled some participants on insulin or other glucose-lowering drugs, and both reduced or stopped those drugs during each FMD cycle under a supervised protocol with glucose monitoring (Sulaj et al., 2022 [15]; van der Velden et al., 2024 [18]); in one, two low-blood-sugar episodes occurred in participants who stayed on a sulfonylurea or long-acting insulin, and one withdrew (van der Velden et al., 2024) [18]. The primary-care diabetes trial studied people managed with metformin alone or diet alone (van den Burg et al., 2024) [3]. Anyone taking medication for diabetes or blood pressure should not attempt a multi-day, low-calorie FMD cycle without a clinician involved; low-blood-sugar risk is highest with insulin or a sulfonylurea. Liver disease was not studied in any citation on this page. Kidney disease was studied in one trial, in people with diabetic kidney disease, but only under clinical supervision throughout (Sulaj et al., 2022) [15]; that is not evidence that an FMD cycle is safe to try unsupervised with kidney disease, so route to a clinician either way. Pregnancy, being under 18, and a history of an eating disorder are not directly studied here either; these are reasons for general clinical caution rather than sourced findings.

Safety and Cautions

This is general information, not medical advice. Talk to a clinician before trying an FMD if you are pregnant, under 18, have a history of an eating disorder, manage diabetes or blood pressure with medication, or have kidney or liver disease. Most human FMD research to date is short-term and small-scale; treat specific numbers from any single trial as evidence to weigh, not a guarantee of your own result.

What the evidence actually supports

Several human trials report short-term reductions in body weight and IGF-1, and some report lower blood pressure, from FMD cycles (Wei et al., 2017 [1]; Brandhorst et al., 2015's human pilot [2]; Burns et al., 2025 [5]). A meta-analysis pooling 11 qualified studies (12 sub-studies, counting one trial with two comparator arms separately; 761 participants total) reports reductions in HbA1c, IGF-1, systolic blood pressure, and diastolic blood pressure specifically, while finding no significant effect on the other cardiovascular risk factors it checked (Mohammadzadeh et al., 2025) [13]; its own introduction describes the underlying FMD trial literature as showing "inconsistent" findings. In the authors' sensitivity analyses, the IGF-1 reduction was no longer significant without either the breast-cancer trial or Wei et al., 2017, and the blood-pressure reductions were no longer significant without Tang and Lin, 2020 (Mohammadzadeh et al., 2025) [13]. Of the 11 studies that meta-analysis pooled, four were already cited separately on this page (Wei et al., 2017 [1]; Brandhorst et al., 2015 [2]; Sadeghian et al., 2021 [6]; van den Burg et al., 2024 [3]); five more are added individually below, in the same pool, for completeness (Sulaj et al., 2022 [15]; Tang and Lin, 2020 [16]; Videja et al., 2022 [17]; van der Velden et al., 2024 [18]; Mishra, Fanti, et al., 2023 [19]); the remaining two, both reports from one trial in women receiving chemotherapy for breast cancer, are outside this page's scope. This page covers fasting-mimicking diet research in people without cancer or multiple sclerosis; trials of the diet alongside treatment for those conditions are a separate area and are not summarised here. A 2024 trial added a monthly FMD cycle to usual primary care for 100 people with type 2 diabetes managed with metformin alone or diet alone, under ongoing clinician supervision, and found reduced need for glucose-lowering medication (adjusted treatment effect on medication score -0.3, 95% CI -0.4 to -0.2, p<0.001), improved HbA1c (-3.2 mmol/mol, p=0.04), and reduced body weight (-3.6 kg, p<0.001); 18 of 100 participants were lost to follow-up (van den Burg et al., 2024) [3]. An 8-day, open-label pilot randomized 30 healthy adults, in three arms of about 10 each, to one of two FMD formulations or their usual diet, and found a significant difference between groups in weight, fasting glucose, and a lab marker of autophagy from baseline to day 6, though the authors state plainly that differences were not significant across all time points (Espinoza et al., 2026) [7]. FMD does not appear to impair muscle force or volume in young healthy men over three cycles (Nardon et al., 2022) [9], though this has not been tested in older adults or people already at risk of muscle loss. Two smaller trials in the same pool add supportive, if modest, evidence: a 4-month trial in 100 people with type 2 diabetes found an FMD-based meal-replacement regimen improved fasting glucose, HbA1c, blood pressure, and lipids more than a comparison meal-replacement regimen (Tang and Lin, 2020) [16]; and a single 5-day FMD cycle in 24 healthy volunteers lowered TMAO, which did not fall in a randomized vegetable-only comparison group, and lowered IGF-1 and HOMA-IR from baseline (Videja et al., 2022) [17].

Where the studies disagree

Wherever FMD is compared head-to-head against ordinary calorie restriction or against other fasting regimens, the evidence disagrees with any framing that FMD is superior. A 2-month trial of 5-day FMD cycles in 60 women with obesity found no significant difference in weight loss between FMD and ordinary continuous calorie restriction (CR -2.29 kg vs FMD -1.13 kg, p=0.06), with the calorie-restriction group losing about twice as much weight on average, though FMD showed more favorable effects on fat mass and muscle-mass preservation (Sadeghian et al., 2021) [6]. A network meta-analysis in 867 people with type 2 diabetes found no significant difference between FMD and three other fasting regimens on glucose control, with a different regimen, twice-weekly fasting, ranking best on a composite score (Xiaoyu, Yuxin, and Li, 2024) [12]. A randomized trial testing FMD against a glycocalyx-supplement and a placebo in 56 South-Asian Surinamese adults with type 2 diabetes found FMD produced a temporary improvement in BMI and HbA1c but, on its primary microvascular outcome, was not able to preserve microvascular endothelial health, with one measure worsening at follow-up (van der Velden et al., 2024) [18]. A trial comparing FMD cycles against a Mediterranean diet in overweight, hypertensive adults found no significant difference between the two diets on any measure at the end of the intervention period, and, unlike the Mediterranean-diet group, no loss of lean body mass in the FMD group. Within the FMD group specifically, one endothelial-function marker (reactive hyperemia index) decreased significantly from baseline; the authors interpret this as more likely reflecting vascular rejuvenation than impaired vascular function, citing the improved cardiometabolic profile seen alongside it (Mishra, Fanti, et al., 2023) [19]. In a 6-month proof-of-concept trial in 40 people with type 2 diabetes and diabetic kidney disease, monthly FMD cycles did not significantly change the primary outcome, albuminuria, compared with a Mediterranean diet (P=0.45), though a prespecified subgroup with microalbuminuria at baseline did improve; HOMA-IR also improved, but only the HOMA-IR effect was sustained at follow-up (Sulaj et al., 2022) [15]. That trial enrolled some participants on insulin therapy, who were instructed to discontinue short-acting insulin and reduce long-acting insulin by half while on FMD, under clinical supervision. A broader review pooling FMD together with other fasting regimens found a significant decrease in leptin and ghrelin but no significant change in adiponectin or resistin, and because it pools FMD with other regimens rather than isolating it, that finding supports a general statement about fasting and appetite hormones, not an FMD-specific claim (Tavakoli et al., 2025) [14]. Background mortality research on IGF-1 complicates a simple "FMD lowers IGF-1, which is good" framing: a meta-analysis of 19 cohort studies found a U-shaped relationship between IGF-1 and all-cause mortality, where both low and high IGF-1 carried more risk than a mid-range level (Rahmani et al., 2022) [11], so lowering IGF-1 further is not automatically favorable. A trial in 45 healthy women found FMD maintained skin texture over 71 days while texture roughness increased in the control group, alongside improved skin hydration (Maloh et al., 2023) [4]. Separately, a 12-week trial in patients with fatty liver disease tested something it also called "FMD," but defined that term as 16 hours of daily fasting, not the periodic, low-calorie, multi-day protocol every other citation on this page means by the term (Khodadadi et al., 2024) [8]; its results are not counted as evidence about the FMD described on this page, because it is testing a different intervention under the same name. The disease-prevention claims in the foundational mouse literature extend beyond cardiometabolic markers into longevity and disease-incidence findings that remain mouse-only and are not extended to a human claim anywhere on this page (Brandhorst et al., 2015 [2]; Mishra et al., 2021 [10]).

Authors and funding of the cited studies

  • Wei et al., 2017 [1]: Valter Longo is senior and corresponding author. The paper's competing-interests statement: "The experimental FMD was provided by L-Nutra Inc." The University of Southern California has licensed intellectual property to L-Nutra, with potential royalty payments to the university. "V.D.L. and T.E.M., who have equity interest in L-Nutra, did not participate in the collection and analysis of the data. One-hundred percent of V.D.L.'s equity will be assigned to the nonprofit foundation Create Cures." U.S. patents related to the work have been filed.
  • Brandhorst et al., 2015 [2]: Longo is senior and corresponding author. From the paper: "VDL and TEM have equity interest in L-Nutra, a company that develops medical food. Neither author had any role in data analysis." The University of Southern California has licensed intellectual property to L-Nutra, with potential royalty payments to the university.
  • van den Burg et al., 2024 [3]: Longo is a co-author, not the senior author. Funding statement: the trial "was co-funded by Health~Holland, Top Sector Life Sciences & Health, the Dutch Diabetes Foundation and L-Nutra." The authors' relationships statement adds that Longo "is a founder and shareholder of L-Nutra (his shares are assigned to the Create Cures Foundation and other charitable and research organisations), owns patents licensed to L-Nutra, receives support for travel expenses from L-Nutra and is on the advisory board of L-Nutra."
  • Maloh et al., 2023 [4]: no Longo author. Several authors are identified as employees of L-Nutra, and the paper states L-Nutra supplied the study data. This research was funded by L-Nutra.
  • Burns et al., 2025 [5]: no Longo author. Trial registry (NCT06560996): lead sponsor University of Nottingham, collaborator Chenot Group, HC International SA; no apparent L-Nutra connection. The paper's competing-interest statement: "GCG and ADM are employees of HC International SA, Weggis, Switzerland, during the project. GF is an employee of labor team w ag, Goldach, Switzerland, during the project."
  • Sadeghian et al., 2021 [6]: no Longo author and no L-Nutra funding tie found.
  • Espinoza et al., 2026 [7]: no Longo author. Min Wei and William Hsu are listed with an L-Nutra, Inc. affiliation. Funding statement: "This work was supported by L-Nutra, Inc. L-Nutra, Inc. did not participate in the conduct of the study, data collection, or analysis." Competing interests: "The authors declare no competing interests."
  • Khodadadi et al., 2024 [8]: no Longo author and no L-Nutra funding tie found.
  • Nardon et al., 2022 [9]: Longo is a co-author, fourth of five authors; Bertucco is the corresponding author. This paper's own funding and competing-interest statement could not be retrieved for this page; the publisher's page returned an access block rather than article text.
  • Mishra et al., 2021 [10] (the mouse study): Longo is senior and corresponding author. Competing interests, from the paper: "V.D.L. has equity interest in L-Nutra, which develops and sells medical food... V.D.L. has committed all his equity in the company to charitable organizations."
  • Rahmani et al., 2022 [11]: Longo is senior and corresponding author. Conflict-of-interest statement, quoted verbatim: "AL and VDL have equity interest in a company producing medical food (L-Nutra). This is not directly but indirectly related to the topic of this meta-analysis." (AL is Alessandro Laviano, also a co-author on [1].)
  • Xiaoyu, Yuxin, and Li, 2024 [12]: no Longo author and no L-Nutra funding tie found.
  • Mohammadzadeh et al., 2025 [13]: no Longo author and no L-Nutra funding tie found.
  • Tavakoli et al., 2025 [14]: no Longo author and no L-Nutra funding tie found.
  • Sulaj et al., 2022 [15]: Longo is a co-author, not the senior author. Disclosure, from the paper: "L-Nutra, as funder of the fasting-mimicking diet used in this study, has no role in the design or conduct of the study... V.L. is founder and shareholder of L-Nutra; his shares are destined to the Create Cures Foundation and other charitable and research organizations."
  • Tang and Lin, 2020 [16]: no Longo author and no L-Nutra funding tie found; the paper states no conflict of interest.
  • Videja et al., 2022 [17]: no Longo author and no L-Nutra funding tie found; the paper states no conflict of interest.
  • van der Velden et al., 2024 [18]: no Longo author. "Fasting mimicking diet boxes (Prolon®) were provided by L-Nutra Inc." "Dietary supplement Endocalyx" was provided by MicroVascular Health Solutions LLC; co-author Vink is affiliated with MicroVascular Health Solutions LLC. "HV is Chief Science Officer at GlycoCheck BV." The trial was funded by consortium grant LSHM16058-SGF (GLYCOTREAT).
  • Mishra, Fanti, et al., 2023 [19] (a different trial from [10], same first author): Longo is senior and corresponding author. Competing interests, from the paper: "V.D.L. has equity interest in L-Nutra and owns the patents of the Fasting Mimicking Diet... The University of Southern California has licensed intellectual property to L-Nutra Inc. ... the University has the potential to receive royalty payments from L-Nutra Inc. For the present study, the experimental FMD was provided by L-Nutra Inc." A later Author Correction (2025, PMID 40987812) to this paper adds: "The clinical study was sponsored by L-Nutra Inc, which provided the experimental FMD and paid for all the associated procedures and lab tests"; "A grant was provided to the Hypertension Institute in Tennessee by L-Nutra"; and "V.D.L., S.B., and M.W. hold patents related to the Fasting Mimicking Diet but which are not a result of this trial."
  • Min Wei is an author on [1], [2], [10], [19], [4], and [7], with an L-Nutra, Inc. affiliation on the last two.
  • Stefano Brandhorst is an author on [1], [2], [10], and [19].

References

  1. Wei M, Brandhorst S, Shelehchi M, Mirzaei H, Cheng CW, Budniak J, Groshen S, Mack WJ, Guen E, Di Biase S, Cohen P, Morgan TE, Dorff T, Hong K, Michalsen A, Laviano A, Longo VD (2017). Fasting-mimicking diet and markers/risk factors for aging, diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. Science Translational Medicine. PMID 28202779 doi:10.1126/scitranslmed.aai8700 Finding: supports
  2. Brandhorst S, Choi IY, Wei M, Cheng CW, Sedrakyan S, Navarrete G, Dubeau L, Yap LP, Park R, Vinciguerra M, Di Biase S, Mirzaei H, Mirisola MG, Childress P, Ji L, Groshen S, Penna F, Odetti P, Perin L, Conti PS, Ikeno Y, Kennedy BK, Cohen P, Morgan TE, Dorff TB, Longo VD (2015). A Periodic Diet that Mimics Fasting Promotes Multi-System Regeneration, Enhanced Cognitive Performance, and Healthspan. Cell Metabolism. PMID 26094889 doi:10.1016/j.cmet.2015.05.012 Finding: limited evidence
  3. van den Burg EL, Schoonakker MP, van Peet PG, van den Akker-van Marle EM, Lamb HJ, Longo VD, Numans ME, Pijl H (2024). Integration of a fasting-mimicking diet programme in primary care for type 2 diabetes reduces the need for medication and improves glycaemic control, a 12-month randomised controlled trial. Diabetologia. PMID 38546821 doi:10.1007/s00125-024-06137-0 Finding: supports
  4. Maloh J, Wei M, Hsu WC, Caputo S, Afzal N, Sivamani RK (2023). The Effects of a Fasting Mimicking Diet on Skin Hydration, Skin Texture, and Skin Assessment, a Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of Clinical Medicine. PMID 36902498 doi:10.3390/jcm12051710 Finding: limited evidence
  5. Burns L, Cooper S, Sarmad S, Funke G, Di Mauro A, Gaitanos GC, Tsintzas K (2025). Effects of fasting-mimicking diets with low and high protein content on cardiometabolic health and autophagy, a randomized, parallel group study. Clinical Nutrition. PMID 40816210 doi:10.1016/j.clnu.2025.08.004 Finding: supports
  6. Sadeghian M, Hosseini SA, Zare Javid A, Ahmadi Angali K, Mashkournia A (2021). Effect of Fasting-Mimicking Diet or Continuous Energy Restriction on Weight Loss, Body Composition, and Appetite-Regulating Hormones Among Metabolically Healthy Women with Obesity, a Randomized Controlled, Parallel Trial. Obesity Surgery. PMID 33420673 doi:10.1007/s11695-020-05202-y Finding: contradicts
  7. Espinoza SE, Park S, Connolly G, Qi W, Zhang N, Semwal M, Li Y, Lauzon M, Salmon AB, Hsu W, Wei M, Musi N (2026). Effect of fasting-mimicking diet on markers of autophagy and metabolic health in human subjects. GeroScience. PMID 41372565 doi:10.1007/s11357-025-02035-4 Finding: limited evidence
  8. Khodadadi N, Sadeghi A, Poustchi H, Abbasi B, Nilghaz M, Melekoglu E, Yari Z, Hekmatdoost A (2024). Effectiveness of flaxseed consumption and fasting mimicking diet on anthropometric measures, biochemical parameters, and hepatic features in patients with Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD), a randomized controlled clinical trial. Nutrition and Diabetes. PMID 39550356 doi:10.1038/s41387-024-00350-x Finding: limited evidence
  9. Nardon M, Venturelli M, Ruzzante F, Longo VD, Bertucco M (2022). Fasting-Mimicking-Diet does not reduce skeletal muscle function in healthy young adults: a randomized control trial. European Journal of Applied Physiology. PMID 35034194 doi:10.1007/s00421-021-04867-2 Finding: no effect found
  10. Mishra A, Mirzaei H, Guidi N, Vinciguerra M, Mouton A, Linardic M, Rappa F, Barone R, Navarrete G, Wei M, Brandhorst S, Di Biase S, Morgan TE, Ram Kumar S, Conti PS, Pellegrini M, Bernier M, de Cabo R, Longo VD (2021). Fasting-mimicking diet prevents high-fat diet effect on cardiometabolic risk and lifespan. Nature Metabolism. PMID 34650272 doi:10.1038/s42255-021-00469-6 Finding: limited evidence
  11. Rahmani J, Montesanto A, Giovannucci E, Zand H, Barati M, Kopchick JJ, Mirisola MG, Lagani V, Bawadi H, Vardavas R, Laviano A, Christensen K, Passarino G, Longo VD (2022). Association between IGF-1 levels ranges and all-cause mortality: A meta-analysis. Aging Cell. PMID 35048526 doi:10.1111/acel.13540 Finding: limited evidence
  12. Xiaoyu W, Yuxin X, Li L (2024). The effects of different intermittent fasting regimens in people with type 2 diabetes, a network meta-analysis. Frontiers in Nutrition. PMID 38332802 doi:10.3389/fnut.2024.1325894 Finding: no effect found
  13. Mohammadzadeh M, Amirpour M, Ahmadirad H, Abdi F, Khalesi S, Naghshi N, Bahrami A, Hejazi E (2025). Impact of Fasting Mimicking Diet (FMD) on cardiovascular risk factors: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized control trials. Diabetology and Metabolic Syndrome. PMID 40287774 doi:10.1186/s13098-025-01709-5 Finding: limited evidence
  14. Tavakoli A, Bideshki MV, Zamani P, Tavakoli F, Dehghan P, Gargari BP (2025). The effectiveness of fasting regimens on serum levels of some major weight regulating hormones, a GRADE-assessed systematic review and meta-analysis in randomized controlled trial. Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition. PMID 40176106 doi:10.1186/s41043-025-00834-1 Finding: limited evidence
  15. Sulaj A, Kopf S, von Rauchhaupt E, Kliemank E, Brune M, Kender Z, Bartl H, Cortizo FG, Klepac K, Han Z, Kumar V, Longo V, Teleman A, Okun JG, Morgenstern J, Fleming T, Szendroedi J, Herzig S, Nawroth PP (2022). Six-Month Periodic Fasting in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes and Diabetic Nephropathy: A Proof-of-Concept Study. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. PMID 35661214 doi:10.1210/clinem/dgac197 Finding: limited evidence
  16. Tang F, Lin X (2020). Effects of Fasting-Mimicking Diet and Specific Meal Replacement Foods on Blood Glucose Control in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity. PMID 33376581 doi:10.1155/2020/6615295 Finding: supports
  17. Videja M, Sevostjanovs E, Upmale-Engela S, Liepinsh E, Konrade I, Dambrova M (2022). Fasting-Mimicking Diet Reduces Trimethylamine N-Oxide Levels and Improves Serum Biochemical Parameters in Healthy Volunteers. Nutrients. PMID 35268068 doi:10.3390/nu14051093 Finding: supports
  18. van der Velden AIM, IJpelaar DHT, Chandie Shaw PK, Pijl H, Vink H, van der Vlag J, Rabelink TJ, van den Berg BM (2024). Role of dietary interventions on microvascular health in South-Asian Surinamese people with type 2 diabetes in the Netherlands: A randomized controlled trial. Nutrition and Diabetes. PMID 38600065 doi:10.1038/s41387-024-00275-5 Finding: contradicts
  19. Mishra A, Fanti M, Ge X, Vaughn D, Brandhorst S, Wei M, Hong KM, Pellegrini M, Pijl H, Houston MC, Longo VD (2023). Fasting mimicking diet cycles versus a Mediterranean diet and cardiometabolic risk in overweight and obese hypertensive subjects: a randomized clinical trial. npj Metabolic Health and Disease. PMID 40604264 doi:10.1038/s44324-023-00002-1 Finding: limited evidence