Overview
- A three-month U.S. randomized controlled trial enrolled 97 patients with mild-to-moderate Crohn's disease, assigning 65 to a fasting-mimicking diet and 32 to a control group.
- The intervention limited intake to roughly 700–1,100 calories for five consecutive days each month using provided plant-based meals, with usual diets resumed between cycles.
- About two-thirds of participants on the fasting-mimicking diet reported clinical improvement compared with less than half in the control group, with benefits seen after the first cycle.
- Inflammation markers fell in the diet group, including a significant decline in fecal calprotectin along with reductions in pro-inflammatory lipid mediators and immune-cell inflammatory signaling.
- Side effects reported by diet participants were generally mild, and researchers emphasized the unblinded design, short duration, and a disclosed industry conflict as reasons to seek confirmatory studies and mechanistic follow-up.