Their effectiveness was almost the same. Scientists believe that it makes no sense to choose a regimen with a longer fasting period. 
Scientists at the University of Illinois have compared the effectiveness of two different interval diets for the first time. The effect of both diets (20:4 and 18:6) was almost identical. The study was published in the journal Cell Metabolism.
Intermittent or intermittent fasting is called limiting the time of eating: a certain “window” during the day is allocated for eating. This is a general term that includes various types of diets designed primarily for weight loss. They are often called by the ratio of hours of «full» and «hungry hours during the day: 16:8, 18:6, 20:4. The 16:8 diet is the most well-known, but the others are far less well researched.
A new study compares diets that have 4-hour (20:4) and 6-hour (18:6) eating windows. It involved 58 people who were randomly assigned to three groups: each of these diets and a control group (without changes in diet).
In the experimental groups, participants were not restricted in any way in the types of food they could eat, but outside the «window» they could not eat, they were allowed to drink only water and other drinks without calories.
The study continued for eight weeks . Scientists observed how intensely participants lose weight, how their risk indicators for cardiovascular diseases change: blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides and inflammatory markers in the blood.
The results of the study showed that the difference in the effect of these two interval diets is quite small. In both experimental groups, the participants lost about 3% of their body weight, they received about 550 fewer calories per day. Participants in both groups improved insulin sensitivity to approximately the same extent. At the same time, when compared with the control group, they did not find a difference in the level of cholesterol, triglycerides and blood pressure. That is, most of the markers of cardiovascular risk were not affected by diet during the study.
The authors of the study indicate that their data are consistent with the results of other scientific papers. Intermittent diets can actually help you lose weight for those who don't want to count calories.
«Our study also says that longer fasting throughout the day does not lead to better results,» says Krista Varadi (Krista Varady), study co-author. She adds that more research is needed to optimize this type of diet.
Scientists have also noted that a 3% weight loss is not considered big enough: an intervention that results in at least 5% weight loss is said to be effective. They indicate that the reason for this is probably the short duration of the study.
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