The Benefits of Fasting

With Ramadan just around the corner, I wanted to write a little about the health benefits and the studies that exist around fasting, or, as it is currently popularized among health and diet enthusiasts and various books: Intermittent Fasting or IF.

Intermittent fasting can take many forms. Some like to fast 24 hours on just water, followed by 24 hours of non-fasting.  Others, prefer a 20/4 routine, 20 hours of fasting then 4 hours of non-fasting. Yet others,  do 19/5 or 16/8. You get the idea.

There are several human and animal studies on intermittent fasting and benefits abound. However, before I get into those, I want to emphasize how important it is to remember not to ruin the benefits of fasting by gorging on sugar like a crazy person when one breaks the fast. One should eat their fill, but without changing the balance of macronutrients (proteins, fats, carbs) from what you would normally eat.

On to the goody benefits.

Intermittent fasting has been shown to decrease glucose and insulin levels, and also increase insulin sensitivity. It also increases the resistance of neurons to stress.
Fasting was shown to decrease the risk for coronary artery disease, stroke, myocardial infarctions.
In mice, it was shown to reduce age-related cognitive deficiencies, increase resistance to gamma radiation.
Most interesting, is that rats showed an increase in life span by 20% for males, and 15% for females when placed on a 1 in 3 days fasting after they began adulthood.

So there is something to be said for fasting, and for skipping breakfasts or other meals here and there.