The RadboudUMC research involves not eating anything for 12 to 48 hours. “During that period, your metabolic system makes a switch,” says gut and brain researcher Mirjam Bloemendaal, who participated in the study. “You don’t use sugars that you ingest, but you switch to the body fats.”
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And it is precisely this process that would have a beneficial effect on brain health, Bloemendaal explains to EditieNL. “We have found evidence that the deterioration of neurons in the brain in sick people is less rapid if they do not eat anything for a long period of time.”
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Ramadan of dieet
For now, we mainly know intermittent fasting from Ramadan and as a way of dieting. “You lose weight if you take in fewer calories than you use – at the times when you are allowed to eat,” says Tara Eikenaar of the Nutrition Center. This can have positive consequences for overweight people.
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The weight loss can lead to a drop in cholesterol levels and blood pressure in the short term. “But: it mainly depends on what you eat when it is allowed,” says Eikenaar. “And there is no research yet on whether intermittent fasting has a positive effect on health in the long term.”
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Unclear
Much is indeed still unknown about fasting and when it is healthy in the long term, says researcher Bloemendaal. “We don’t yet know what the effect is of what you eat at the times when you are allowed to eat. Can you eat a lot, or do you have to moderate and only eat healthy?”
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She continues: “What we also don’t know yet is whether this positive effect on the brain is also there if you are healthy and do not yet have a neurological disorder. More research needs to be done.”
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