18 Oct 2017 --- Up to 16 weeks of intermittent fasting without otherwise having to count calories helps fight obesity and other metabolic disorders, and the benefits of such fasting are already noticeable after six weeks. This is according to a study by Kyoung-Han Kim and Yun Hye Kim in the journal Cell Research which is published by Springer Nature. Intermittent fasting in mice helped to kick-start the animals' metabolism and to burn fat by generating body heat.