Please select the eligibility criteria that correspond to the clinical trial below.
Title: A Randomised Controlled Trial Assessing The Impact Of An Intermittent Energy Restricted Diet On Weight Loss, Insulin Sensitivity and Heart Rate Variability In Men and Women With Central Obesity
Brief Summary: An intermittent energy restricted (IER) diet may modify cardio-metabolic disease risk factors compared to an energy-matched continuous energy restricted (CER) diet. A randomised controlled parallel design trial will determine the impact of a short-term IER diet (2 consecutive days of very low calorie diet (VLCD), 5 days moderate energy restriction each week for a 4 week period), compared to a CER diet, on insulin sensitivity in healthy (disease-free) subjects with central obesity.


Options:
A: Inclusion Criteria:

* Females;
* Aged between 18 and 59 years old;
* Body mass index equal or greater 25 kg/m²;
* Agree to sign the informed consent.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Any chronic health conditions (e.g. chronic renal failure, autoimmune, heart, and liver disease);
* Thyroid diseases or medications for its treatment;
* Medications known to affect total energy expenditure;
* Use of steroids, immunosuppressants or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, weight-loss medications, oral hypoglycemic agents or insulin and any medications that influence metabolic and/or inflammatory parameters;
* Previous surgery for weight loss;
* Pregnancy or breast-feeding;
* Smoking;
* Alcohol use (\>2 doses/day).
B: Inclusion Criteria:

* Ability to provide informed consent.
* Chinese. (Both parents must be Chinese)
* Age above 21 years old. This study will focus only on adult subjects, and 21 years old is chosen as the age cut off, as it is the recognised legal age of independent consent.
* BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2

Exclusion Criteria:

* Pregnant, or any possibility of being pregnant (based on last menstrual period).
* Lactation.
* Age above 70 years old and/or suffering from cancer, diabetes, or any major cardiovascular disease, respiratory, psychiatric or musculoskeletal morbidity.
* Currently dieting or losing weight
* Unable to tolerate or complete two consecutive days of fasting during a two-day trial before recruitment.
* Unwilling to be randomised into intervention or control group.
C: Inclusion Criteria:

* Aged \>35-75 years
* Waist circumference above cut-off for high risk of cardio-metabolic disease of \>102 cm in men with a Europid, Black African and Caribbean, and other ethnic background and \>88 cm in women with a Europid, Black African and Caribbean, and other ethnic background (WHO, 2008), and ≥90 cm in men and ≥80 cm in women with an Asian background (South Asian and East Asian) (Misra et al., 2009).

REFERENCES Misra A, Chowbey P, Makkar BM, Vikram NK, Wasir JS, Chadha D, et al. (2009). Consensus statement for diagnosis of obesity, abdominal obesity and the metabolic syndrome for Asian Indians and recommendations for physical activity, medical and surgical management. The Journal of the Association of Physicians of India 57: 163170.

WHO (2008). Waist circumference and waist-hip ratio: report of a WHO expert consultation. Geneva, 8-11 December 2008.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Kidney or cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, gastrointestinal or chronic liver disease;
* previous bariatric surgery or other major surgery (e.g. organ transplantation);
* unable to provide written informed consent;
* have significant psychiatric disorder (e.g. schizophrenia, anxiety, panic disorder, attention deficit disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder) or uncontrolled depression;
* participated in a weight management drug trial in the previous 3 months;
* have binge eating behaviour;
* have uncontrolled epilepsy;
* alcohol or substance abuse;
* currently pregnant, lactating, or planning pregnancy within the study period;
* are using medication clinically deemed to affect metabolic rate and weight (e.g. beta blockers, corticosteroids, diuretics, etc);
* lactose intolerant.
D: Inclusion Criteria:

* Participants must be diagnosed with relapsing MS.
* Participants must be 18 - 60 years old.
* Participants will need to be experiencing a relapse as identified by their neurologist.
* Participants must have body mass index (BMI) of 23 or higher.
* Participants must not have other ongoing diseases in other systems.

Exclusion Criteria:

* History of any chronic disease process (excluding MS) that could interfere with interpretation of results.
* Use of insulin pumps or insulin injections for diabetes.
* Use of drugs like Warfarin or Coumadin that need to monitor the intake of vegetables containing high levels of vitamin K.
* Patients that are required by a physician to follow a special diet or food restriction (diabetic, gastric bypass, soft/pureed food, etc.)
* Alcoholism, psychiatric problems, life situations that would interfere with study participation and compliance.

Answer: C