Table 3.

Study and patient characteristics.

Study	Country	Experimental group	Control group	Sample size		Time of therapy (weeks)	Inclusion criteria	Exclusion criteria
				Experimental	Control
Varady et al. (19)	Chicago	ADF (4:3)	Permitted to eat ad libitum every	15	15	12	BMI between 20 and 29.9 kg/m2; age between 35 and 65 years; weight stable for 3 months prior to the beginning of the study; non-diabetic; and not taking weight loss, lipid or glucose-lowering medications.	NA
Barnosky et al. (34)	American	ADF (4:3)	Maintain present lifestyle	21	17	24	Men and wome aged 18–65 years with a BMI of 25–39.9 kg/m2.	People with history of cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, were taking weight loss medications, were not weight stable for 3 months prior to study initiation.
Trepanowski et al. (9)	American	ADF (4:3)	Maintain present lifestyle	34	31	48	Men and women between 18 and 65 years of age, with a body mass index between 25.0 and 39.9.	People with history of cardiovascular disease or type 1 or 2 diabetes, use of medications that could affect study outcomes, unstable weight for 3 months prior to the beginning of the study.
Minsuk et al. (36)	Korea	ADF (4:3)	Permitted to eat ad libitum every day	13	10	8	Aged 18–64 years; BMI over 23.0 kg/m2; no weight variation > 5 kg during the previous 3 months; not diagnosed with type 1 or2 diabetes mellitus; AST or ALT levels <200 mg/dl.	NA
Cho et al. (35)	Canada	ADF (4:3)	Maintain present lifestyle	8	5	8	Age 20-65 years; BMI more than 23.0 kg/ m2; stable weight for 3 months prior to the study; no secondary obesity; non-diabetic; AST or ALT levels <200 mg/dL; serum creatinine level <2.0 mg/dL and so on.	NA
Johari et al. (33)	Malaysia	ADF (4:3)	Maintain present lifestyle	33	10	8	ALT > 41 and or AST > 34 IU/L, age that ranged from 18 to 70 years old, BMI between 17.5 and 40 Kg/m2 and no evidence of other forms of liver diseases.	People with significant alcohol consumption, pregnancy, and involvement in an active weight loss program or taking weight loss medications.
Stekovic et al. (37)	France	ADF	Maintain present lifestyle	28	29	4	Age between 35 and 65 years; BMI between 22.0 and 30.0 kg/m2, both inclusive; Stable weight for 3 months prior to the study; Stable weight for 3 months immediately prior to the study.	History of metabolic disorder, history of cardiovascular disease, acute or chronic inflammatory disorder, known malignancy.