Intermittent fasting has already been demonstrated to be an efficient technique to reduce weight, but detractors are concerned that it may harm women's reproductive hormones. Now, a collaboration of University of Illinois Chicago scientists has released a study on Obesity that adds to the body of data.
The researchers, led by UIC nutrition professor Krista Varady, monitored a sample of pre- and post-menopausal obese women on the "warrior diet" approach of intermittent fasting for eight weeks. The warrior diet calls for a four-hour meal window each day during which individuals can consume without monitoring calories before returning to water fast till the next day.
Varady, along with her colleagues, discovered that concentrations of sex-binding globulin hormone, an enzyme that transports reproductive hormones all through the body, were unaltered in dieters after eight weeks. The same was true for testosterone and androstenedione, a steroid hormone that the body uses to make both testosterone and estrogen, as reported by Daily Times.
Declining Normal Hormonal Rates
However, dehydroepiandrosterone, or DHEA, a hormone used by fertility clinics to promote ovarian function including egg quality, was considerably lower in both pre-menopausal as well as post-menopausal women after the experiment, decreasing by roughly 14%.
While the decline in DHEA rates was the most notable finding of the study, DHEA levels in both menopausal and post-menopausal women maintained within the average limits by the conclusion of the eight weeks.
Following Varady's statement, the study shows that in pre-menopausal women, the slight decline in DHEA levels must be evaluated against the demonstrated reproductive benefits of reduced body mass. The decline in DHEA levels in postmenopausal women might be significant because menopause generally causes a major drop in estrogen, and DHEA is a fundamental component of estrogen.
However, a poll of the individuals revealed no unfavorable side effects linked with reduced estrogen post-menopause, including sexual difficulties or skin abnormalities. As a bonus, because high DHEA levels have been related to breast cancer risk, Varady believes that a slight decline in levels may be beneficial in lowering that peril for both pre-and post-menopausal women, as the doctor emphasized, as per the study published in MDPI journal.
Hormonal Imbalances Affecting Menstrual Cycles
The research also examined amounts of estradiol, estrone, but also progesterone, all of which are essential for pregnancy, but only among post-menopausal women owing to the shifting levels of such hormones within pre-menopausal women's menstrual periods. After eight weeks, there wasn't any difference in these hormones among postmenopausal women, as per PubMed Central.
Women within both the four-hour and six-hour eating groups lost 3% to 4% of their baseline weight during the duration of the trial, compared to essentially no weight reduction in the control group. Dieters also showed a reduction in insulin sensitivity and oxidative stress indicators. Perimenopausal women in their 40s were omitted from the research.
Nonetheless, Varady stated that she believes that this is a terrific beginning step. They studied thousands of pre-and postmenopausal women using different alternative fasting and time-restricted feeding techniques. It only makes people eat less. Shortening your eating window simply cuts calories. Much of the unfavorable information about intermittent fasting has come from research on mice or rats. More study into the impact of intermittent fasting on people is required, as she stated in the UIC Today report.
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