Objective: The aim of this study is to determine the effect of intermittent fasting diet on cognitive eating behavior in individuals with metabolic syndrome.

Methods: This intervention-type study was conducted on 70 individuals with metabolic syndrome between the ages of 18 and 65 who were directed by a physician to an obesity counseling center. In the study, energy-restricted diets were planned similarly for all participants. Participants were randomly divided into 2 groups according to age and gender. The control group was followed up for 12 weeks with the frequent intermittent diet plan and the intervention group with the 16 : 8 model intermittent fasting diet plan. The general demographic characteristics of the participants were defined before the research. Three-factor Nutrition Questionnaire was applied before and after the study in order to define the cognitive eating behavior level.

Results: The majority of the participants are in the 54-65 age group. The research group is married (94%), has primary-secondary (52.3%) level of education, whose income is at or above the minimum wage (95.4%), is a housewife (43.1%), retired (24%)), and consists of individuals who are public employees (12.3%). There was no significant difference between the groups in the total score of the 3-Factor Nutrition Questionnaire before the intervention. In terms of the sub-components of the 3-Factor Nutrition Questionnaire, statistically significant differences were found in both groups during the diet in uncontrolled eating, conscious restriction, and emotional eating scores (P < .05).

Conclusions: As a result, it has been determined that the application of energy-restricted diet as frequent or 16 : 8 model intermittent fasting diet does not have any superiority over the components of cognitive eating behavior, uncontrolled eating, conscious restraint, and emotional eating. Both energy-restricted diet plans have similarly positive effects on cognitive eating behavior.

Keywords: Eating behavior, fasting, metabolic syndrome, diet