In 2025, A. Al Tamim and a team from King Saud University studied Wistar rats on a high-fat diet to mimic obesity. They gave groups standard chow or high-fat diet, with or without daily Sidr or Talh honey at 500-1,000 mg/kg for 12 weeks, checking weight, blood sugar, hormones, and brain inflammation in the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus.

In 2025, Haohao Zhang and team at Zhengzhou University compared three diets for 52 obese people with type 2 diabetes: intermittent fasting (5:2 plan, eating normally five days and cutting calories two), time-restricted eating, and steady calorie reduction. They measured weight, blood sugar, and insulin response over months.