OBJECTIVE To assess the effect of Ramadan fasting on body weight and food consumption in type 2 diabetic obese women. METHODS A total of 276 outpatient women receiving oral antidiabetic drugs (OADs) (BMI = 34.63 +/- 3.29 kg/m(2)), aged 49 (+/-6 years), were selected. The study was carried out over three periods - before (T1: prefasting), during (T2: fasting), and after (T3: postfasting) Ramadan - in three towns located in the northwestern region of Algeria. During the course of 3 days, the daily food intake and anthropometric parameters weight, height, waist and hip circumferences, body mass index (BMI), and waist-hip ratio (WHR) were recorded. A one-way repeated measures ANOVA test was used to compare the groups. RESULTS The main effect of fasting during Ramadan was a significant weight loss (-3.12 kg i.e. 3.70%; P < 0.01), a decrease in meal frequency (2.2 +/- 0.3 vs. 4.3 +/- 0.4) as well as in energy intake (1488 +/- 118 vs.1823 +/- 262 Kcal/d) and an important increase in dietary fat consumption (35.84 vs. 25.36%), especially the saturated one (231Kca/d i.e. 43.25%) of total fat, dietary cholesterol (392 +/- 121 vs. 221 +/- 73 mg/d), and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). Except in three cases, there were no frequent hypoglycaemic episodes observed among the participants. CONCLUSIONS Fasting during the month of Ramadan causes weight loss and decrease in calorie intake, which is correlated with a decrease in meal frequency. However, more foods rich in fat and dietary cholesterol were consumed during this period. The latter could constitute a high risk for diabetics who are fasting, in particular when medication advice and/or health care control are insufficient or ignored.