Eating fewer calories for a month helps obese women lose weight and shrink their waist, but doesn’t yet reduce the deep belly fat or the fat under the skin — that takes longer, like with metformin.

0

Pro

48

Against

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (0)

0

Community contributions welcome

No supporting evidence found

Contradicting (1)

48

Community contributions welcome

48

Effect of Long-Term Treatment with Metformin Added to Hypocaloric Diet on Body Composition, Fat Distribution, and Androgen and Insulin Levels in Abdominally Obese Women with and without the Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Randomized Controlled Trial

Human

2000 Aug

The study gave people a low-calorie diet, but also gave them a pill (either metformin or placebo) right after, so we can’t tell if the diet alone caused the changes — the pill might have affected the results too.

Gold Standard Evidence Needed

According to GRADE and EBM methodology, here is what ideal scientific evidence would look like to definitively prove or disprove this specific claim, ordered from strongest to weakest evidence.

Source Study

Effect of Long-Term Treatment with Metformin Added to Hypocaloric Diet on Body Composition, Fat Distribution, and Androgen and Insulin Levels in Abdominally Obese Women with and without the Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Score: 48

DOI: 10.1210/JCEM.85.8.6738

Similar Assertions

For obese women with PCOS, taking metformin along with a low-calorie diet helps them lose more weight, shrink belly fat, lower male hormone levels, and get more regular periods than just dieting alone.

48

0

75%

Even women without PCOS who are obese and take metformin with a diet lose weight and belly fat, and their SHBG (a hormone that binds male hormones) goes up — but their male hormone levels don’t drop like in women with PCOS.

48

0

71%