2.4 min. read
Fasting has always been a controversial subject among modern nutritionists and doctors. Many re-main divided over what fasting actually accomplishes. Not to mention the potential adverse effects of the practice…
Dieters have a number of fasting regimes to choose from these days. All purport to be ‘the answer’ – at least in social media circles – to whatever is ailing you…
The tip of the iceberg
Many forms of fasting are making the rounds. Theme-oriened fasts. Part-time fasts. Purging fasts. You name it. But those in the know know that there is much more going on inside you during fasting than you may aware of, or even suspect.
A Domino Effect
An abstract of the report on a recent study of fasting reveals: “Going without food for several days does far more than force the body to burn stored fat. Research published in 2024 found that pro-longed fasting produces widespread and coordinated biological changes across multiple organs, with some of the most notable effects appearing only after about three days without calories.
What they did
Scientists from Queen Mary University of London’s Precision Healthcare University Research Institute (PHURI) and the Norwegian School of Sports Sciences wanted to identify the beneficial molecular changes associated with fasting. They wanted to isolate good effects of fasting which might some day be replicated by other treatments.
That could be especially important for people who might benefit from certain biological effects of fasting but cannot safely undergo a prolonged fast or follow fasting mimicking approaches such as ketogenic diets.
For the study, researchers followed 12 healthy volunteers who completed a seven-day water-only fast. Participants were closely monitored each day. The scientists measured changes in about 3,000 proteins in their blood before the fast, throughout the fasting period, and after they began eating again.
What they found
Participants lost an average of 5.7 kilograms during the fast, with the loss coming from both fat mass and lean mass. Lean mass includes tissues that are not body fat, such as muscle and other water-rich tissues.
Three days after participants resumed eating, their overall weight remained below where it had start-ed. However, most of the lost lean mass had returned, while the reduction in fat mass remained. That, alone, was a positive finding.
The most striking finding involved what happened after approximately three days of fasting.
At that point, researchers began detecting distinct changes in the levels of proteins throughout the body. The pattern suggested that complete calorie restriction was producing a coordinated whole body response rather than simply altering how the body obtained energy.
About one third of all the proteins measured changed significantly during the fasting period, with effects linked to all major organs. Many of those changes appeared consistently among the part-icipants. The researchers also detected biological signatures that could not be explained by weight loss alone.
The Takeaway
Claudia Langenberg, Director of Queen Mary’s Precision Health University Research Institute (PHURI), said:
“Fasting, when done safely, is an effective weight loss intervention. Popular diets that incorporate fasting – such as intermittent fasting – claim to have health benefits beyond weight loss. Our results provide evidence for the health benefits of fasting beyond weight loss.”
However, Langenberg adds, “these [benefits] were only visible after three days of total caloric rest-riction – later than we previously thought.” Which she says suggests that intermittent or short fasts, or those that don’t involve total Calorie restriction, may not produce positive results.
My take
It sounds as though the researchers themselves were pleasantly surprised by the results of their experiment. And it definitely sounds as though they’re onto something, with their suggestion that there are many more discoveries to be made about ‘therapeutic’ fasting.
~ Maggie J.