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Updated: Sep 14, 2026
Assessment of the Metabolic Effects of Isocaloric 2:1 Intermittent Fasting in Mice
Published on: November 27, 2019
Intermittent fasting and chronic pain: Protocol for a systematic review of randomised controlled trials
Alisha M Bruton1, Carina Staab2, Owen Gray3
1Helfgott Research Institute, National University of Natural Medicine, Portland, Oregon, USA brutona@ohsu.edu.
Introduction:
Chronic pain is a leading public health problem, impacting over 1.5 billion people worldwide. Standard-of-care includes pharmaceutical medication, surgery and physical therapy, yet many patients experience continued symptoms. Investigation into lifestyle-based approaches such as dietary interventions has increased in recent years, including intermittent fasting, due to known impacts on inflammation and neurotransmitters.
Methods And Analysis:
This systematic review and meta-analysis will be conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The literature search will include the PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase (Ovid), Web of Science (Core Collection) and LILACS (VHL) databases. The Google Scholar, ClinicalTrials.gov, PROSPERO, Open Science Forum and MedRXiv platforms will also be searched. Randomised, controlled trials investigating the impact of intermittent fasting interventions in adult humans with any chronic pain condition will be included. The primary outcomes will be self-reported pain or function and the secondary outcome will be rescue medication use. Study screening, data extraction and risk of bias assessment will be conducted independently in duplicate. The Cochrane Risk of Bias-2 tool will be used to assess bias at the study level, and the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) guidelines will be used to assess bias at the outcome level. The meta-analysis will use random effects, with heterogeneity assessed using the I2 statistic. For studies that report rescue medication use, we will analyse the impact of intermittent fasting on pain or function, adjusting for rescue medication use, using established methods. Subgroup and sensitivity analyses will be conducted to explore heterogeneity.
Ethics And Dissemination:
As this project involves analysis of publicly available data, no ethical oversight was or is required. The results of this review will be disseminated by publication in a peer-reviewed journal.
Prospero Registration Number:
CRD #420261395061.
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