Effect of fasting in Ramadan on body weight

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the effect of Muslim fasting on body weight in 137 Jordanian adults, 91 males and 46 females, ranging in age from 19 to 59 years. The fasting was performed according to the Islamic religious practice which requires complete daily abstinence from all food and drink and smoking from dawn to sunset during the lunar month of Ramadan. The subjects were divided Into three groups I, overweight [>5% of reference weight]; II, normal controls [within +/- 5% of reference weight] and III, underweight [<95% reference weight]. The results showed that there was a significant difference between initial and final weight in the three groups; the losses in groups I, II and 111 were 2.62 +/- 0.17 [SEM], 2.00 +/- 0.26 and 0.64 +/- 0.25kg respectively. The reduction in weight was significantly higher in the first half of the month than the second half [1.50 _0.12 and 0.60 +/- 0.10 kg respectively taking the three groups together]. Thus it seems that overweight patients can benefit more from this type of fasting than other groups