Nutrition & DietFasting and Caloric Restriction Leave Reproductive Hormones Largely Intact
Many people worry that intermittent fasting or cutting calories could disrupt hormones like testosterone or estrogen. This systematic review and meta-analysis pooled data from 15 randomized controlled trials involving 954 adults to find out. The results were largely reassuring: neither fasting nor caloric restriction produced consistent, statistically significant changes in reproductive hormones including testosterone, estradiol, FSH, LH, SHBG, or DHEA-S. One exception was free testosterone, which showed a small but statistically significant decrease with fasting, though this came from a limited number of small trials. The authors conclude that these dietary strategies appear hormonally safe for most adults pursuing weight management or metabolic health goals, while calling for larger, longer-term studies to clarify effects in specific subgroups.
