Not eating food from 16 to 18 hours every day could be a way to treat numerous health conditions, even if you have to train yourself to push past the hunger.
A past animal and human studies in The New England Journal of Medicine was reviewed and it suggested that intermittent fasting (IF) can help reduce blood pressure, aid weight loss, and improve longevity.
The report serves as a road map of sorts for experts to prescribe fasting as a way of prevention or treatment for obesity, diabetes, cancer and heart disease. The author of the study, Mark Mattson, a professor of neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University, hones in on two types: the daily time-restricted feeding, which means that you eat a full meal and fast for 16-18 hours, and the 5:2 intermittent fasting which means you fast for two days a week, usually capping a fasting day at 500 calories.
According to the review, most Americans don't do intermittent fasting, because the norm is three meals a day plus snacks, and so the physicians are less inclined to consider fasting as a solution to a broad range of health conditions. Since the study is new, the report advises physicians to monitor their patients throughout the intermittent fasting and slowly increase the duration and the frequency of fasting to help guide their transition.
How intermittent fasting works
Intermittent fasting has been studied in overweight adults and rodents to improve health across the spectrum, even though it is not clear if those benefits are the result of weight loss.
Alternating between eating and fasting can improve cellular health, Mattson said, most likely by triggering metabolic switching. Metabolic switching means that cells use up their fuel stores and convert fat to energy. It is like flipping a switch from fat-storing to fat-saving.
The benefits
The findings on intermittent fasting depend on the effectiveness of the diet, but some studies in humans and animals have linked the practice to healthier hearts, longer lives, and improved cognition. The article points to the residents of Okinawa, known for their high longevity and low-calorie, nutrient-rich diet. Their intermittent fasting might contribute to their lifespan and keep obesity in check.
Intermittent fasting is also thought to help improve insulin resistance, thus stabilizing blood sugar levels. The findings of a study in 2018 found that three men with type 2 diabetes, also known as adult-onset diabetes, were able to stop taking insulin after losing weight because of intermittent fasting. This finding clashed with the belief that there is no cure for diabetes.
The previous study also showed the switch can help increase resistance to stress by optimizing neuroplasticity and brain function, or the brain's ability to adapt to development throughout one's life. And older adults who were put on a restricted-calorie diet showed improved verbal memory compared to two other groups who had not fasted.
They also found out that in some patients, physical function even improved. A study of young men who fasted every day for 16 hours lost fat and they retained muscle while going through resistance training for two months.
The limitations
More research is required regarding the long-term effects of intermittent fasting. The studies that exist are narrow and clinical trials focused on overweight young and middle-aged adults, so the benefits and the safety can't be generalized to other groups.
Also, intermittent fasting is a difficult diet to stick to, it leaves participants hungry, irritable and less able to concentrate. When the brain is deprived of food, the appetite hormones in the hypothalamus, or the brain's hunger center, are released in a flurry and it can trigger overeating.
Mattson said that the pain is temporary and that patients should be advised that feeling hungry and irritable is common and it usually passes after two weeks to a month as the body and the brain adjusts and becomes accustomed to the new habit.
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