Intermittent Fasting Lowered Oxidative Stress and Liver Enzymes in Women With Rheumatoid Arthritis: What the Research Shows

Intermittent Fasting Lowered Oxidative Stress and Liver Enzymes in Women With Rheumatoid Arthritis: What the Research Shows

Medical disclaimer: This article summarises published research for informational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not a substitute for guidance from a qualified health professional. Always consult your doctor before starting any fasting protocol, especially if you have an existing health condition or take medication.

Study at a Glance

What This Study Looked At

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is driven partly by chronic oxidative stress and inflammation, and postmenopausal women with overweight or obesity face a compounded burden — declining estrogen removes a natural anti-inflammatory buffer just as excess body fat adds more of it. This trial asked a straightforward question: can a 16:8 intermittent fasting schedule, without any other change beyond meal timing, meaningfully shift oxidative stress markers, inflammation, and liver enzymes in this specific population? For background on how fasting interacts with joint inflammation more broadly, see Intermittent Fasting for Arthritis and Joint Inflammation.

Who Was Studied

Participant profile: All participants were postmenopausal women with a confirmed rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis who were classified as overweight or obese. Detailed age ranges and medication use were not specified in the sources available for this summary.

How the 16:8 fasting schedule worked in this study: Participants in the intervention group restricted eating to an 8-hour daily window and fasted for the remaining 16 hours, with no other prescribed dietary changes beyond general healthy-eating guidance already given to both groups.

What the Researchers Found

Oxidative Stress and Inflammatory Markers

• The intermittent fasting group showed a significant drop in malondialdehyde, a marker of oxidative cell damage (p = 0.02), alongside a significant rise in catalase, an antioxidant enzyme (p = 0.004).
• Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, a marker linked to systemic inflammation, fell significantly in the fasting group (p = 0.018).

Liver Enzymes

• Aspartate transaminase (AST) decreased significantly in the fasting group (p = 0.02).
• Alanine transaminase (ALT) decreased significantly in the fasting group (p = 0.03).

Secondary Outcomes

• Researchers also reported improvements in BMI and quality-of-life measures in the fasting group, alongside a beneficial impact on disease activity, though exact figures for these secondary outcomes were not available in the sources used for this summary.

What Did Not Change

• The control group, which received only general healthy-eating advice, showed no significant change in oxidative stress markers, inflammatory markers, or liver enzymes over the 8-week period.

What the Researchers Concluded

The authors concluded that an 8-week 16:8 intermittent fasting regimen improved markers of oxidative stress, inflammation, and liver function in postmenopausal women with rheumatoid arthritis and overweight or obesity, supporting intermittent fasting as a potential nonpharmacological complement to standard RA management.

What This Means If You Fast

• This is not a replacement for RA medication. The trial tested fasting as an addition to standard care, not a substitute for prescribed disease-modifying drugs.
• A moderate 16:8 schedule was enough to see change. Participants did not need an extreme protocol — a widely used daily fasting window produced measurable shifts in just 8 weeks. See 16:8 Intermittent Fasting Meal Plan for how this schedule works in practice.
• Liver enzyme improvements are worth noting if you're already managing RA medications that are processed by the liver — but this should be discussed with your doctor, not self-managed.
• Oxidative stress reduction is a plausible mechanism behind some of the broader anti-inflammatory effects reported elsewhere in fasting research; see Does Intermittent Fasting Reduce Inflammation? for the wider picture.
• Postmenopausal women are an understudied group in fasting research generally, which makes trials like this one particularly useful even at a modest sample size.

Study Limitations

• Small sample size (44 total, roughly 22 per group), which limits how confidently results generalize to all women with RA.
• All-female, postmenopausal, overweight/obese population only — results may not apply to men, premenopausal women, or people at a healthy weight with RA.
• Short duration (8 weeks) — long-term effects and durability of the changes are unknown.
• Exact figures for secondary outcomes (BMI, quality of life, disease activity) were not independently verified against the full published dataset for this summary; only the primary oxidative stress, inflammatory marker, and liver enzyme results are reported with confirmed p-values here.
• Funding source and any potential conflicts of interest were not identified in the sources available for this summary.

Source

Tavakoli, A., et al. (2025). The effects of intermittent fasting on antioxidant and inflammatory markers and liver enzymes in postmenopausal, overweight and obese women with rheumatoid arthritis: a randomized controlled trial. Scientific Reports, 15, 2357. PMID: 40354829

Frequently Asked Questions

Can intermittent fasting help with rheumatoid arthritis?

A 2025 randomized trial found that an 8-week 16:8 intermittent fasting schedule significantly reduced oxidative stress markers, inflammatory markers, and liver enzymes in postmenopausal women with RA, suggesting it may help as a complement to standard treatment.

What fasting schedule was used in the rheumatoid arthritis study?

Participants followed a 16:8 schedule — fasting for 16 hours and eating within an 8-hour daily window — for 8 weeks, with no other prescribed dietary restrictions.

Does intermittent fasting reduce inflammation markers in RA?

In this trial, the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, a marker associated with systemic inflammation, dropped significantly (p = 0.018) in the fasting group compared to controls.

Is intermittent fasting safe for people with rheumatoid arthritis?

This trial suggests a moderate 16:8 schedule was well tolerated over 8 weeks in postmenopausal women with RA, but anyone with RA should discuss fasting with their rheumatologist first, especially if on medications affected by meal timing.

Did intermittent fasting affect liver enzymes in this study?

Yes — both AST and ALT liver enzymes decreased significantly in the fasting group (p = 0.02 and p = 0.03 respectively), while the control group showed no significant change.

Related Research and Articles

• Intermittent Fasting for Arthritis and Joint Inflammation
• Does Intermittent Fasting Reduce Inflammation?
• Intermittent Fasting and Inflammation Research
• 16:8 Intermittent Fasting Meal Plan
• Fasting and Autoimmune Conditions in Women
• The Best 16:8 Fasting Plan for Women

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