Fasting Evidence

Evidence map

Fasting exercise: what the evidence base looks like

7 publications, 1 of them trials and 5 syntheses. This page describes the shape of that literature rather than summarising its conclusions.

Updated 3 min read 7 citations

What the evidence on fasting exercise is made of Of 7 publications on this topic, the breakdown by study type: 5 meta-analysis, 1 randomised trial, 1 review. 511meta-analysis (5)randomised trial (1)review (1)
7 publications, by study type. Volume is not strength — the same count can be a settled question or a pile of commentary, and which one it is depends almost entirely on this breakdown. Harvested from PubMed and Crossref; publication type as recorded by the source.

What this literature is made of

The synthesis is ahead of the primary literature here — reviews and meta-analyses drawing on a modest number of underlying studies. Treat confident conclusions with the caution the sample size deserves.

The distinction that matters most is between synthesis and primary research. A meta-analysis pools trials and is the closest thing to a settled answer a field produces. A narrative review is one group's reading of the same material and can be selective without being dishonest. Counting them together, which most citation counts do, obscures exactly the thing you want to know.

When the fasting exercise literature was published Publication years for the 7 papers on this topic, grouped into bands from before 2015 through to 2023 onwards. 2023 onwards3 papers2020-20222 papers2015-20191 papersBefore 20151 papers
Still active. The most recent paper here is from 2025, so this is a field where an answer written today may not hold for long. Publication years as recorded by PubMed and Crossref.

How this page is built

Everything above is computed from the citations this site harvested from PubMed and Crossref, not written by hand. When the weekly harvest finds a new paper on this topic, these counts change and the characterisation changes with them. That is the point: a hand-written claim about how strong an evidence base is starts decaying the day it is written.

Publication type is taken as the source records it. That is imperfect — journals label inconsistently, and a paper indexed as a "review" may be a systematic one — so treat the bands as approximate. They are accurate enough to distinguish a trial literature from a commentary literature, which is the distinction that matters.

The strongest work on this topic

Ordered by study design first, then recency. The full set is listed in the references below.

  1. Effects of Intermittent Fasting and Calorie Restriction on Exercise Performance: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis — Kazeminasab F, Sharafifard F, Bahrami Kerchi A et al., 2025, meta-analysis
  2. Fed, not fasted: is carbohydrate mouth rinsing still ergogenic? A three-level meta-analysis — Deng H, Fan X, Liu P et al., 2025, meta-analysis
  3. Maltodextrin-Based Carbohydrate Oral Rinsing and Exercise Performance: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis — Hartley C, Carr A, Bowe SJ et al., 2022, meta-analysis
  4. Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Specific Exercise Performance Outcomes: A Systematic Review Including Meta-Analysis — Correia JM, Santos I, Pezarat-Correia P et al., 2020, meta-analysis
  5. Effects of fasted vs fed-state exercise on performance and post-exercise metabolism: A systematic review and meta-analysis — Aird TP, Davies RW, Carson BP, 2018, meta-analysis
  6. Assessment of Urolithin A effects on muscle endurance, strength, inflammation, oxidative stress, and protein metabolism in male athletes with resistance training: an 8-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study — Zhao H, Zhu H, Yun H et al., 2024, randomised controlled trial
  7. The effects of fasting on metabolism and performance — Maughan RJ, Fallah J, Coyle EF, 2010, review
How much research is there on fasting exercise?
7 publications are indexed here, of which 1 are trials and 5 are syntheses.
Does more research mean a stronger conclusion?
No. Composition matters more than volume — five randomised trials support a claim far better than fifty commentaries, and citation counts do not distinguish between them.
How current is this?
The most recent paper indexed here is from 2025. The set is refreshed weekly from PubMed and Crossref.
Why does this page not tell me the answer?
Because summarising a literature into a conclusion requires reading it, and doing that automatically is how confident nonsense gets published. This page tells you how much weight a conclusion could bear; the articles on this site do the interpreting.

References

Every citation below links to the original peer-reviewed record on PubMed or via DOI. Nothing here is a substitute for medical advice.

  1. Fed, not fasted: is carbohydrate mouth rinsing still ergogenic? A three-level meta-analysis Deng H, Fan X, Liu P, et al. · Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition · 2025 · Meta-analysis DOIPubMed 41199504Full text
  2. Effects of Intermittent Fasting and Calorie Restriction on Exercise Performance: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Kazeminasab F, Sharafifard F, Bahrami Kerchi A, et al. · Nutrients · 2025 · Meta-analysis DOIPubMed 40573103Full text
  3. Maltodextrin-Based Carbohydrate Oral Rinsing and Exercise Performance: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Hartley C, Carr A, Bowe SJ, et al. · Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2022 · Meta-analysis DOIPubMed 35239154Full text
  4. Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Specific Exercise Performance Outcomes: A Systematic Review Including Meta-Analysis Correia JM, Santos I, Pezarat-Correia P, et al. · Nutrients · 2020 · Meta-analysis DOIPubMed 32408718Full text
  5. Effects of fasted vs fed-state exercise on performance and post-exercise metabolism: A systematic review and meta-analysis Aird TP, Davies RW, Carson BP · Scandinavian journal of medicine & science in sports · 2018 · Meta-analysis DOIPubMed 29315892
  6. Assessment of Urolithin A effects on muscle endurance, strength, inflammation, oxidative stress, and protein metabolism in male athletes with resistance training: an 8-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study Zhao H, Zhu H, Yun H, et al. · Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition · 2024 · Randomised controlled trial DOIPubMed 39487653Full text
  7. The effects of fasting on metabolism and performance Maughan RJ, Fallah J, Coyle EF · British journal of sports medicine · 2010 · Review DOIPubMed 20484315