Periodic fasting, or intermittent fasting, has been extremely popular for a long time. It would not only make you lose weight, but also make you healthier. However, there has not been much evidence until now. Isn’t it just a fad, like so many diets? The answer: it doesn’t seem like it.
A new study of King’s College London shows that eating for ten hours a day – and therefore not eating anything for the other fourteen hours – is good for your hunger, plus has benefits for your energy level and your mood. And the latter in particular is of course wonderful: most people become a bit grumpy, to say the least, from eating too little. There is even an English term for it: ‘hangry’.
Tens of thousands of people went on fast
But the people in the largest study of the subject ever are not bothered by this. More than 37,000 participants of the so-called ZOE Health app participated in the three-week intervention period. They ate normally in the first week and in the following two weeks they fasted for fourteen hours, meaning they ate for ten hours. More than 27,000 people survived for a few weeks longer. It turned out that it is better, for example, to eat every day between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. than to always choose a different period of ten hours. The benefit was also greater for participants who ate for many hours in a day before the intervention.
Ten hours of eating and fourteen hours of fasting is actually a very long period. Many of the intermittent fasting schedules require only eight or six hours of eating, for example between 11am and 7pm or 12pm and 6pm. But a less strict diet also has major health benefits, the researchers showed.
Better mood
“This is the largest study outside the lab showing that intermittent fasting can improve your health in the real world,” said researcher Sarah Berry of King’s College London. “And what’s really great is that the findings show that you don’t have to be very strict to achieve positive results. Fasting for fourteen hours is enough to see improvements in mood, energy levels and hunger. We also showed for the first time that those who consistently fast at the same time every day experience greater benefits than those who are less committed.”
When you eat
The evidence is growing that it not only matters what you eat, but also how you eat. “Eating is not just about what foods you consume, but also when you eat your meals, and a fasting diet is an important way to improve your health. We don’t have to eat all the time. Many people feel full and even lose weight if they limit their food consumption to ten hours a day,” says researcher Kate Bermingham of King’s College.
It is unclear whether people feel better because of the fasting itself or because, for example, they lose weight or because they manage to maintain their diet goals. In other words, no causal relationship has been proven. It is clear that many people feel better after the fasting diet.
Fasting has an impact on all genes
We previously wrote about the positive influence of fasting that it changed the expression of 40 percent of the genes in the adrenal glands, hypothalamus and pancreas. These organs play a role in the regulation of hormone balance. Disruptions are associated with various conditions, such as diabetes and stress disorders. Intermittent fasting can therefore potentially be used to treat such diseases. Previously, there were studies that cautiously concluded that intermittent fasting can improve the health of people with diabetes, high blood pressure or cardiovascular disease.
2023-11-14 18:02:51
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