Impact of Ramadan Fasting on Dietary Intakes Among Healthy Adults: A Year-Round Comparative Study

Abstract

Religious rituals are considered among the principle factors that impact dietary behaviors and food selections. The main objective of this study is to characterize food intake among Lebanese adults observant of the fasting month of Ramadan and compare it to their intake of the rest of the year. During a year-round study, including the month of Ramadan, Lebanese adults (n = 62), completed multiple (9 to 13) 24-h dietary recalls. Information about sociodemographic and lifestyle characteristics was also obtained. Dietary intake was examined using food groups as well as energy, macro, and micronutrient consumption. Significant differences in dietary intakes were observed for 12 of the 19 food groups (expressed as a percent of total energy) during Ramadan as compared to the rest of the year. More specifically, the intakes of cereals, cereal-based products, pasta, eggs, nuts and seeds, milk and dairy, and fats and oils were lower, while vegetables, dried fruit, Arabic sweets, cakes and pastries, and sugar-sweetened-beverages intakes were higher during Ramadan as compared to the remainder of the year (p < 0.05). Such differences in food groups' intakes were reflected in nutrients intakes, including carbohydrates, cholesterol, calcium, beta-carotene, vitamin C, folate, and magnesium. The findings of this study highlighted major differences in dietary intakes between the fasting month as compared to the rest of the year. With the large number of adults who observe fasting during Ramadan, the particularities of dietary intake during Ramadan ought to be considered in the development of context and culture-specific dietary recommendations.

Ramadan Diurnal Intermittent Fasting Is Associated With Attenuated FTO Gene Expression in Subjects With Overweight and Obesity: A Prospective Cohort Study

“…The observed changes in the total energy and dietary intakes from different macro and micronutrients are repeatedly shown in several studies ( 30 , 32 ), and consistent with the recent work that compared dietary intakes from different food groups and macronutrients in a comparative study using the year-round dietary intakes ( 23 ).…”

“…Ramadan is the ninth month of the lunar calendar, during which healthy adults are mandated to abstain from dawn to sunset, and to refrain from eating and drinking (including water) for a period that extends from 12 to 17 h, depending on the solar season and geographical location ( 22 ). This pattern of fasting is associated with dietary (including both food quality and quantity) ( 23 ), lifestyles (including sleep quality and quantity) ( 24 ) as well as circadian rhythm hormonal changes ( 25 ) that may harbor changes in gene expression.…”

Assessment of water consumption during Ramadan intermittent fasting: Result from Indonesian cross-sectional study

“…Compared to Laksmi et al, this study showed a higher intake of other beverages among Indonesian adults because of the Ramadan tradition, where usually they prepared sweet beverages for energy replenishment. Shatila et al study during Ramadan showed that the energy contribution from SSBs significantly increased compared to before Ramadan, which was 4.7 ± 3.2% to 8.4 ± 10.1% ( 41 ).…”

What does medical research on Ramadan intermittent fasting tell us? Bibliographic mapping analysis of seven decades (1952–2021) and future directions

“…Therefore, the impact of RIF has been extensively researched regarding medical recommendations for these population groups (Hassanein et al 2022; Mahmood et al 2022). In addition to food restriction, Ramadan involves changes in sleeping habits (Faris, Jahrami, Alhayki, et al 2020), eating behaviors and food selections (Shatila et al 2021), and increased acts of spirituality (Pathy et al 2011; Ali Khan et al 2018). The large body of health topics related to RIF mean that there is broad research potential on physiological and behavioral changes during this Islamic holy month (Faris and Assaad-Khalil).…”

“…These effects include reducing body weight , changing body composition and lowering body fat (Fernando et al 2019) with emphasis on visceral adiposity , improving liver functions ), ameliorating the metabolic syndrome components, improving cardiometabolic risk factors (Jahrami et al 2021), normalizing glucometabolic markers , and alleviating in ammatory and oxidative stress markers Faris, Kacimi, Al-Kurd, et al 2012;Faris, Hussein, et al 2012). Alongside, the drastic shifts in dietary and lifestyle habits accompanying the changes in circadian rhythm (BaHammam and Almeneessier 2020), sleep quality (Faris, Jahrami, Alhayki, et al 2020) and food selections (Shatila et al 2021), are also concomitant with changes in the gene expressions of multiples genes that are related circadian rhythm such as CLOCK gene (Ajabnoor et al 2017), antioxidant and metabolism-controlling genes (SIRT1, SIRT3, TFAM, SOD2 and Nrf2) ) and fat mass and obesity-associated protein gene FTO (Mohamed I. Madkour Zaher 2022).…”