Lose weight during Ramadan?

Geschatte leestijd: 4 minuten Yesterday was Eid al-Fitr, also known as (incorrectly) the sugar feast. The end of Ramadan. Today, Muslims worldwide can see the results of Ramadan on weight and muscle mass.

Losing weight during Ramadan?

During Ramadan, fasting occurs from sunrise to sunset. Depending on where in the world you are, this can vary from 9 to 22 hours per day [1,2]. However, this does not automatically mean that participating in Ramadan results in weight loss. After sunset, eating and drinking are allowed. Fasting during the day and eating in the evening is the opposite of diets where you are not allowed to eat in the evening, such as the 16:8 diet. Such diets are based on the theory that you should eat mainly when your body is still in action mode and consuming more energy. Whether you lose or gain weight during Ramadan depends, like all diets involving alternating fasting and eating, primarily on the total energy balance. If during Ramadan, in the hours when you are allowed to eat, you eat more than what you saved during fasting, you will gain weight [3]. Overweight and obesity are also becoming increasingly common in the Muslim world [9,10]. Therefore, several researchers are interested in its effect. In a meta-analysis in 2014, the outcomes of 35 studies on the effect of Ramadan on body weight were compared [4]. It turned out that the month of Ramadan leads to a significant weight loss of an average of 1.24 kg. For men, it was slightly more than for women. Men lost an average of 1.51 kg compared to 0.92 kg in women. Below are the results of the studies that were compared.

Heavier people lose more weight during Ramadan

A study published in February 2019 found that the higher the weight before Ramadan, the higher the weight loss during Ramadan [5]. Researchers from the University of Sydney compared the outcomes of 70 studies on the effect of Ramadan on body weight. There was a significant positive correlation between BMI before Ramadan and weight loss during the fasting month. Ramadan led to a significant reduction in body fat percentage. However, this was mainly due to overweight and obese people losing weight (1.46%). People with a normal weight saw their body fat percentage decrease by only 0.41%, which was insufficient to be statistically significant (p=0.436). This is not surprising. We often see in studies that people with the most overweight lose the most weight under the same conditions where the total number of calories is reduced.

Loss of muscle mass during Ramadan

The Australians specifically looked at body fat percentage and not just weight. They also wanted to know the effect of Ramadan on body composition. After all, they could then distinguish between lost fat mass and lost muscle mass. Previous similar studies did not provide clear results. This is an important distinction. Problems related to overweight are largely attributed to fat mass [11]. Muscle mass, on the other hand, has a protective effect on the skeleton, ensures better blood sugar regulation, and limits weight gain due to the energy muscles consume [12]. There are enough indications that Ramadan is not beneficial for muscle mass. This is evidenced by decreased athletic performance in both trained and untrained individuals [6]. The physical performance of combat pilots and soldiers also deteriorated during Ramadan [7,8]. The Australians therefore wanted to know whether Ramadan could cause relatively more loss of muscle mass compared to lost fat mass. The studies they compared were all with non-exercising participants and without intervention by the researchers in the participants’ diet or activity. The loss of fat-free mass (including muscle mass) during Ramadan was significant. However, this loss was 30% lower than the loss in fat mass. Although other studies showed that maximum physical performance is difficult during Ramadan, it does not mean that people move less. The Australian study found people to remain as active as in other months.

Effect is temporary

This loss of fat mass and muscle mass is, as you would expect, temporary. In the Australian study, it took 2 to 5 weeks for the body to return to its old composition. The fat mass/muscle mass ratio was then in most cases back to normal, although the weight remained slightly lower for a while.

References

1. Sakr A.H. Fasting in Islam. J. Am. Diet. Assoc. 1975;67:17–21.
2. Trepanawski J.F., Bloomer R.J. The impact of religious fasting on human health. Nutr. J. 2010;9:57. doi: 10.1186/1475-2891-9-57.
3. Review Islamic fasting and health. Azizi F Ann Nutr Metab. 2010; 56(4):273-82.
4. Review Islamic fasting and weight loss: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Sadeghirad B, Motaghipisheh S, Kolahdooz F, Zahedi MJ, Haghdoost AA Public Health Nutr. 2014 Feb; 17(2):396-406.
5. Fernando HA, Zibellini J, Harris RA, Seimon RV, Sainsbury A. Effect of Ramadan Fasting on Weight and Body Composition in Healthy Non-Athlete Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Nutrients. 2019 Feb 24;11(2). pii: E478. doi: 10.3390/nu11020478. PubMed PMID: 30813495; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6412279
6. Cardio-respiratory responses to moderately heavy aerobic exercise during the Ramadan fasts. Ramadan JM, Barac-Nieto MSaudi Med J. 2000 Mar; 21(3):238-44.
7. Bigard A.X., Boussif M., Chalabi H., Guezennec C.Y. Alterations in muscular performance and orthostatic tolerance during Ramadan. Aviat. Space Environ. Med. 1998;69:341–346.
8. Roky R., Houti I., Moussamih S., Qotbi S., Aadil N. Physiological and Chronobiological Changes during Ramadan Intermittent Fasting. Ann. Nutr. Metab. 2004;48:296–303. doi: 10.1159/000081076.
9. Kahan D. Prevalence and correlates of adult overweight in the Muslim world: Analysis of 46 countries. Clin. Obes. 2015;5:87–98. doi: 10.1111/cob.12089.
10. The GBD 2015 Obesity Collaborators Health Effects of Overweight and Obesity in 195 Countries over 25 Years. N. Engl. J. Med. 2017;377:13–27. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1614362.
11. Ogunbode A.M., Fatiregun A.A., Ogunbode O.O. Health Risks of Obesity. Ann. Ib. Postgrad. Med. 2009;7:22–25. doi: 10.4314/aipm.v7i2.64083
12. Marks B., Rippe J.M. The importannce of fat-free mass maintenance in weight loss programmes. Sports Med. 1996;22:273–281. doi: 10.2165/00007256-199622050-00001.