Comparing Intermittent Fasting, Clean Ketogenic Diet, and Their Combined Effects on Body Composition, Cardiometabolic Markers, and Metabolic Health

Comparing Intermittent Fasting, Clean Ketogenic Diet, and Their Combined Effects on Body Composition, Cardiometabolic Markers, and Metabolic Health

A cross-study analysis combined data from two sequential pre-post intervention studies conducted at the University of Tennessee at Martin, yielding a three-arm design comprising intermittent fasting alone (n = 16), clean ketogenic diet alone (n = 22), and combined clean ketogenic diet with intermittent fasting (n = 41). The clean ketogenic diet restricted carbohydrate intake to 20 grams per day from whole unprocessed sources and eliminated refined sugars, high-fructose corn syrup, and ultra-processed foods.

The intermittent fasting protocol employed a 16:8 time-restricted eating window. Paired-samples t-tests examined within-group pre-to-post changes. One-way analyses of variance with Tukey post-hoc comparisons examined between-group differences in magnitude of change. Effect sizes are reported as Hedges' g for within-group comparisons and eta-squared for between-group comparisons. An independent samples t-test compared glycosylated hemoglobin changes between the intermittent fasting and combined groups. Spearman and Kendall correlations examined associations between fat mass and cardiometabolic change.

Inclusion Criteria:

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Exclusion Criteria:

• pregnant