Intermittent Total Fasts and Obesity

Abstract

Intermittent fasting can be an effective temporary therapeutic measure in obesity refractory to conventional methods of weight reduction. The patient is hospitalized for the initial 7 to 14 day period of total fasting. Then a low-calorie diet is allowed and the patient fasts on one day of each week. Later the periods between fasts are extended to two weeks and a month. Preliminary observations based on a series of 890 patients are presented. About half of the patients have continued to progress favorably in their weight reduction program since the initial fast and indoctrination.