There are many health benefits of intermittent fasting from weight loss and reversal of insulin resistance in pre and type 2 diabetics, right down to a cellular level.
With most people having three meals a day and then snacks, intermittent fasting no longer occurs as it did when we were evolving. Introducing it however produces responses in the human system that have been retained from that evolution. Improvement of glucose regulation, increased stress resistance, and suppressed inflammation are game changers.
Clinical and pre-clinical studies have repeatedly shown that intermittent fasting modifies, for the better, chronic metabolic dis-eases that are epidemic in society: obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease also cancers and neurodegenerative brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s & Parkinson’s disease.
Turning off the ‘metabolic switch’ intermittently, allows for stored fats to be broken down and used for energy in the place of glucose, in what is a more flexible and efficient production of energy. The actions of the broken-down elements of the fats (fatty acids, glycerol and ketone bodies) are known to improve blood pressure, heart rate, the results of endurance training and loss of abdominal fat. They influence disease resistance, health and aging while also improving mental and physical performance.
In contrast to people today, our human ancestors were active and ate when food was available – certainly not 3 meals a day plus snacks while watching television on the couch. Hunter gathering required muscle power and brain power - it was stressful – they adapted and we evolved with those adaptations embedded. Even whilst fasting, mental and physical challenges could be met and overcome with a subsequent restoration of the bodily processes to homeostasis.
Today, these kinds of responses are not found or are minimised in people who overeat and/or are sedentary.
Most of the pre-cursers to compromised cardiovascular health: blood pressure, resting heart rate, levels of high-density and low-density lipoprotein (HDL and LDL) cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose, insulin, and insulin resistance, have been shown to be improved by intermittent fasting. Atherosclerosis markers such as inflammation and oxidative stress are also reduced.
Reduction of those same markers has been shown to reduce asthma symptoms as has weight lost, due to an intermittent fasting regime.
Studies have also shown sufferers of autoimmune disorder multiple sclerosis showing reduced symptoms in 2 months, following an intermittent fasting program. And there are implications for arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis patients due to the impact on reducing inflammation.
Energy metabolism of cancer cells is thought to be impaired by intermittent fasting, inhibiting their growth and assisting with the efficacy of clinical treatments.
Benefits worth pursuing across so many areas of human health, ageing and disease.
Reference: The New England Journal of medicine: Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Health,
Aging, and Disease Authors: Rafael de Cabo, Ph.D., and Mark P. Mattson, Ph.D.
