Table 4. Quality of evidence by Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE).

	Outcome	Studies	Participants	Quality of the evidence	GRADE	Importance
Short-term effects	Weight	5	161	⊕⊝⊝⊝	very low	IMPORTANT
	BMI	5	111	⊕⊕⊝⊝	low	IMPORTANT
	Fasting glucose	8	276	⊕⊕⊕⊝	moderate	IMPORTANT
	HbA1C	8	272	⊕⊕⊕⊝	moderate	IMPORTANT
	HOMA-IR	5	223	⊕⊕⊝⊝	low	IMPORTANT
	Insulin	3	179	⊕⊕⊕⊝	moderate	IMPORTANT
	Cholesterol	7	254	⊕⊕⊝⊝	low	IMPORTANT
	LDLc	8	278	⊕⊕⊝⊝	low	IMPORTANT
	HDLc	8	278	⊕⊕⊕⊝	moderate	IMPORTANT
	Triglycerides	8	276	⊕⊕⊝⊝	low	IMPORTANT
Long-term effects	Weight	2	43	⊕⊕⊝⊝	low	IMPORTANT
	BMI	2	90	⊕⊕⊝⊝	low	IMPORTANT
	Fasting glucose	3	111	⊕⊕⊝⊝	low	IMPORTANT
	HbA1C	5	149	⊕⊕⊝⊝	low	IMPORTANT
	HOMA-IR	2	77	⊕⊕⊝⊝	low	IMPORTANT
	Insulin	2	96	⊕⊕⊝⊝	low	IMPORTANT
	Cholesterol	4	166	⊕⊕⊝⊝	low	IMPORTANT
	LDLc	5	186	⊕⊕⊝⊝	low	IMPORTANT
	HDLc	5	186	⊕⊕⊝⊝	low	IMPORTANT
	Triglycerides	5	186	⊕⊕⊝⊝	low	IMPORTANT

BMI: Body mass index; HbA1c: Hemoglobin A1c (glycated hemoglobin); HOMA-IR: Homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance; LDL: Low density lipoprotein; HDL: High density lipoprotein