HealthyFellow cites intermittent fasting trial

HealthyFellow on September 2 cited a newly published intermittent-fasting study that examined mood, hunger, sleep quality and diet satisfaction in females, pointing followers to findings that favored time-restricted feeding over alternate-day fasting on some subjective measures. The paper behind the post was published in *PLOS One* on August 26 and used a randomized crossover design, according to the journal listing and PubMed record. The study was led by Kristan Amendola and Jennifer J. Heisz of McMaster University, with co-authors from McGill University, Tel Aviv University, McMaster’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Université du Québec à Montréal. ### Which study was the X post referring to? The paper cited by HealthyFellow is titled “Comparison of acute intermittent fasting interventions on mood, hunger, sleep quality, and diet satisfaction in females: A crossover experimental design,” and it appeared in *PLOS One* on August 26, 2026. The journal page lists the DOI as 10.1371/journal.pone.0356690, and PubMed indexes it as a *PLOS One* article in volume 21, issue 8. (journals.plos.org) PubMed and the journal abstract identify the study as a randomized crossover experiment in which the same participants completed both fasting protocols, allowing researchers to compare each participant against herself across the two conditions. That design can reduce between-person variability, but it also means the results reflect a short, tightly controlled intervention rather than a long-term diet program. (journals.plos.org) ### Who was actually studied, and for how long? The study enrolled 23 females with a mean age of 18.3 years, according to the abstract indexed by *PLOS One* and PubMed. Participants completed three days of time-restricted feeding and three days of alternate-day fasting, with a four-day washout period between the two interventions. The phrase “young females” in the abstract matters because it narrows how far the findings can be generalized. (journals.plos.org) The sample was small, the participants were young, and the intervention lasted days rather than weeks or months, based on the published study description. ### What did the trial find on mood and hunger? The authors reported that both fasting approaches increased hunger, but alternate-day fasting produced significantly greater mood disturbance than time-restricted feeding, according to the abstract surfaced by *PLOS One*. (journals.plos.org) A secondary summary of the paper said that mood effects under alternate-day fasting faded by day two, while diet satisfaction was higher during time-restricted feeding. HealthyFellow’s post focused on those same endpoints — mood, hunger, sleep quality and diet satisfaction — but did not include the sample size or journal in the social post itself. The underlying paper supplies both, and those details are important for understanding the weight of the evidence. ### Did the study show fasting hurt sleep? The published summaries say neither fasting approach disrupted subjective sleep quality over the short study window. (journals.plos.org) That means the paper did not find a sleep-quality difference large enough to stand out in this three-day comparison between time-restricted feeding and alternate-day fasting. The outcome is narrower than a claim that intermittent fasting has no effect on sleep in general. (journals.plos.org) This study measured subjective sleep quality in a small, young, female sample during acute interventions, not long-term sleep outcomes across broader populations. ### How should readers read a study like this? The August 26 publication date means the paper is new, peer reviewed and publicly indexed, but it is still one short-term trial. (longevitytoday.com) The crossover design is useful for comparing tolerability between two fasting formats, while the sample size of 23 and the brief intervention period limit broader conclusions about long-term adherence, weight loss or metabolic health. (journals.plos.org) A broader clinical literature on intermittent fasting exists, but this specific paper was designed around subjective experience — mood, hunger, diet satisfaction and sleep quality — rather than hard clinical endpoints such as diabetes incidence or cardiovascular events. Readers looking for those larger health claims would need evidence from longer and larger trials. ### Where can the paper be checked directly? (journals.plos.org) The full citation is available on the *PLOS One* article page and in the PubMed record under PMID 42647528. The named authors are Kristan Amendola, Laura Harris, Rivka Ohayon, Alison K. Shea, Anthea Christoforou, Antony D. Karelis and Jennifer J. Heisz, and the paper was published on August 26, 2026. (journals.plos.org)