Tselebis A, Zabuliene L, Ilias I. Is global interest in fasting, intermittent fasting and the liver shifting? World J Hepatol 2025; 17(4): 101910 [DOI: 10.4254/wjh.v17.i4.101910]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Ioannis Ilias, MD, PhD, Director, Department of Endocrinology, Hippocration General Hospital, 63, Evrou Street, Athens GR-11527, Greece. iiliasmd@yahoo.com
Research Domain of This Article
Endocrinology & Metabolism
Article-Type of This Article
Letter to the Editor
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Hepatol. Apr 27, 2025; 17(4): 101910 Published online Apr 27, 2025. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v17.i4.101910
Is global interest in fasting, intermittent fasting and the liver shifting?
Athanasios Tselebis, Lina Zabuliene, Ioannis Ilias
Athanasios Tselebis, Department of Psychiatry, "Sotiria" General Chest Diseases Hospital, Athens GR-11527, Greece
Lina Zabuliene, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Vilnius LT-03101, Lithuania
Ioannis Ilias, Department of Endocrinology, Hippocration General Hospital, Athens GR-11527, Greece
Author contributions: Tselebis A, Zabuliene L and Ilias I conceived and designed this work, researched the literature, and wrote the manuscript; and all authors thoroughly reviewed and endorsed the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ioannis Ilias, MD, PhD, Director, Department of Endocrinology, Hippocration General Hospital, 63, Evrou Street, Athens GR-11527, Greece. iiliasmd@yahoo.com
Received: September 30, 2024 Revised: February 26, 2025 Accepted: March 10, 2025 Published online: April 27, 2025 Processing time: 206 Days and 20.8 Hours
Abstract
A recent article highlighted the hepatic benefits of intermittent fasting, particularly during Ramadan. However, the rising use of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1)/glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) receptor agonists (RAs) is altering public behavior, leading to decreased interest in diet and exercise. With a focus on hepatic health, we analyzed global search trends using Google Trends™ data from January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2024, focusing on the keywords "fasting", "intermittent fasting", "diet", "nutrition", "liver", Semaglutide ("Ozempic"™, the most widely known GLP-1 RA) and Tirzepatide ("Mounjaro"™, a newer dual GLP-1 and GIP RA). Search interest for "intermittent fasting" and "diet" showed a significant decline over time (Spearman's rho: -0.582 and -0.605, respectively, both P < 0.001), while interest in "fasting" and "nutrition" remained stable. Search interest for Semaglutide, Tirzepatide, "fasting and liver", "diet and liver" and Semaglutide and "liver" increased (Spearman's rho: +0.914, +0.936, +0.369, +0.297 and +0.808, respectively, all P < 0.001). These findings suggest a trend of shifting away from traditional dieting toward broader health concerns, likely influenced by the increasing use of GLP-1/GIP RAs.
Core Tip: The rising popularity of glucagon-like peptide-1/glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide receptor agonists is reshaping public interest in weight management, leading to a global decline in internet search trends for "intermittent fasting" and "diet" over three years. As the focus of the public shifts toward drug treatment for weight management and broader health topics like longevity and vitality, traditional dieting approaches may be losing relevance.
