Does Intermittent Islamic Fasting Have Beneficial Effect in Management of Metabolic Syndrome? a Randomized Control Trial

Metabolic Syndrome (MetS), also called "Syndrome X" or "insulin resistance syndrome," describes a common condition characterized by high blood pressure, elevated triglycerides, central obesity, and low HDL cholesterol levels . Having metabolic syndrome doubles the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes mellitus. The prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) is globally increasing due to the widespread adoption of the Western lifestyle . Between 2011 and 2018, the prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) in the USA significantly increased from 37.6% in 2011-2012 to 41.8% in 2017-2018. This trend may be indicative of the rising epidemic of type 2 diabetes there . In Egypt, an estimated 10.9 million people currently have diabetes. This number is projected to rise to 13 million by 2030 and to 20 million by 2045.our aim to compare effect of Intermittent Islamic fasting with lifestyle modification versus lifestyle modification only on weight management, blood pressure, blood glucose and lipid profile among a group of metabolic syndrome patients.

A Randomized control open label trial was conducted on with metabolic syndrome, their ages range from (30- 45 years) attending the clinical nutrition outpatient clinic in the Zagazig University hospital from 1st of August (2023) to the end of February (2024) using consort guidelines and flow chart were used in this study including 54 patients with metabolic syndrome. At first, a Sample was picked by systematic random technique from patients attending clinical nutrition outpatient clinic of Zagazig University hospital then by block randomization, according to sex and BMI, the sample was classified randomly according to intervention type by block randomization using sealed Envelope website into 6 blocks each block size 9 list length with allocation ratio 1:1, Study was open -label . The sample was divided into two groups (intervention group and control group).

1. Group I: intervention group (27 patients) followed Islamic fasting with lifestyle modification; (Islamic fasting means: fasting two days per week (Monday and Thursday) with fasting (13, 14, 15) middle of lunar months).
2. Group II: control group (27 patients) followed lifestyle modification only.