Medical Benefits of Fasting: Fact or Fiction?

[daniel_i_l]

I've read in multiple places on the web that fasting for a few days a month can have all sorts of beneficial effects such as enhanced life span and lower heart attack rate. Here:
http://hubpages.com/hub/Is-Fasting-Healthy-For-You
and here:
http://www.naturalnews.com/023683_fasting_disease_heart_disease.html
for example.
Is this true? Can anyone point me to research on the subject?
I'm not actually thinking of fasting, I just want to get my facts straight.
Thanks.

 

[Evo]

I believe that maintaining a sensibly low calorie, healthy, balanced diet is the most beneficial.

 

[Astronuc]

I've read in multiple places on the web that fasting for a few days a month can have all sorts of beneficial effects such as enhanced life span and lower heart attack rate.

I have a friend who fasts for religious observances, but he is terribly overweight, has developed sleep apnea, and is a risk for heart disease and diabetes.

The problem with the fasting is what one eats afterward. The body can go into a storage mode such that food gets stored away as fat.


I concur with Evo's comment: "a sensibly low calorie, healthy, balanced diet is the most beneficial".

Eat lean meats and/or fish, complex carbohydrates (not processed food or starch) and whole grains, fruits and vegetables (fresh as much as possible), and eat in balance with one's caloric requirements, i.e. eat according to one's activity.

My grandfather ate a lot of chicken and pork, some fish, and grains, fruits and vegetables. He was quite lean and lived to 103.

 

[Monique]

Here is a recent article published in Nature:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v457/n7230/abs/nature07583.html

Dietary restriction is the most effective and reproducible intervention to extend lifespan in divergent species. In mammals, two regimens of dietary restriction, intermittent fasting (IF) and chronic caloric restriction, have proven to extend lifespan and reduce the incidence of age-related disorders. An important characteristic of IF is that it can increase lifespan even when there is little or no overall decrease in calorie intake.

 

[DaveC426913]

Here is a recent article published in Nature:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v457/n7230/abs/nature07583.html

Dietary restriction is the most effective and reproducible intervention to extend lifespan in divergent species. In mammals, two regimens of dietary restriction, intermittent fasting (IF) and chronic caloric restriction, have proven to extend lifespan and reduce the incidence of age-related disorders. An important characteristic of IF is that it can increase lifespan even when there is little or no overall decrease in calorie intake.

What I never hear mentioned is the effect on quality of life due to caloric restriction. It seems to me you're essentially starving the body into a lower metabolic rate. That's got to impact long-term energy levels.

Lab rats won't complain about feeling weak and tired but what kind of life is it for a human?

 

[Astronuc]

What I never hear mentioned is the effect on quality of life due to caloric restriction. It seems to me you're essentially starving the body into a lower metabolic rate. That's got to impact long-term energy levels.

Lab rats won't complain about feeling weak and tired but what kind of life is it for a human?

I don't hear complaints from lean people, but instead, the complaints I here about health issues or feeling tired invariably come from overweight people.

 

[Evo]

I was thinking about the documentary with Alan Alda showing the calorie restricted study on the rhesus monkeys. Wwo, the study was just published in Science July 10th.

Science 10 July 2009:
Vol. 325. no. 5937, pp. 201 - 204
DOI: 10.1126/science.1173635

Caloric Restriction Delays Disease Onset and Mortality in Rhesus Monkeys

Caloric restriction (CR), without malnutrition, delays aging and extends life span in diverse species; however, its effect on resistance to illness and mortality in primates has not been clearly established. We report findings of a 20-year longitudinal adult-onset CR study in rhesus monkeys aimed at filling this critical gap in aging research. In a population of rhesus macaques maintained at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, moderate CR lowered the incidence of aging-related deaths. At the time point reported, 50% of control fed animals survived as compared with 80% of the CR animals. Furthermore, CR delayed the onset of age-associated pathologies. Specifically, CR reduced the incidence of diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and brain atrophy. These data demonstrate that CR slows aging in a primate species.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/325/5937/201

and the article about it

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/10/science/10aging.html

 

[DaveC426913]

I don't hear complaints from lean people, but instead, the complaints I here about health issues or feeling tired invariably come from overweight people.

Frankly, neither of these address my point. I think the fallacy is called false dichotomy.