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Fasting
Published in Mehwish Iqbal, Complementary and Alternative Medicinal Approaches for Enhancing Immunity, 2023
Fasting is described as a total or partial abstinence from all kinds of foods or a specified refrainment from forbidden foods. As a prospective non-medicinal intervention for improving the quality of health and enhancing longevity, fasting has been the topic of several scientific studies.
Weight Concerns
Published in Carolyn Torkelson, Catherine Marienau, Beyond Menopause, 2023
Carolyn Torkelson, Catherine Marienau
Fasting is one of the most ancient, inexpensive, and powerful healing strategies known to humankind. Many cultures and religions have practiced some form of fasting—both as spiritual rituals and as ways to cleanse the body. In our current secular culture, intermittent fasting, also called “time-restricted eating,” has recently become popular. In this eating pattern, you cycle between fasting, typically for 12–16 hours, and eating within a window of 8–12 hours. The hypothesis is that when you go into a state of fasting, especially for longer than 14 hours, you deplete the body of its glucose reservoir. After the glucose is depleted from reducing your calorie intake, your body starts to break down fat for energy.
Naturopathic Medicine and the Prevention and Treatment of Cardiovascular Disease
Published in Stephen T. Sinatra, Mark C. Houston, Nutritional and Integrative Strategies in Cardiovascular Medicine, 2022
One of the most ancient, powerful, and cost-effective methods of cleansing is fasting. Historically, religious and spiritual peoples have fasted to cleanse the body, mind, and spirit of impurities. From a purely physical perspective, fasting enables the body to rest and work more efficiently. Fasting induces metabolic and hormonal changes by improving insulin sensitivity, enhancing enzyme status, recalibrating taste sensation (e.g., salt), promoting weight loss, and reducing leaky gut. Though fasting is indicated for loss of appetite, acute illness, chronic illness, to accelerate healing, change behaviors (e.g., quit smoking), and its psychospiritual effect, not everyone is a candidate for fasting.99 Please consult with a healthcare professional before choosing to do a fast.
Tasting rewards. Effects of orosensory sweet signals on human error processing
Published in Nutritional Neuroscience, 2022
Thomas J. Hosang, Sylvain Laborde, Michael Sprengel, Andreas Löw, Niels Baum, Sven Hoffmann, Thomas Jacobsen
The experiment consisted of two sessions per participant. Sessions were at least 72 hr apart for all participants and scheduled at the same time of the day (9, 12 am, or 3 pm). Before attending Session 1, participants were instructed as to how to prepare for both sessions. Preparation included a fasting period (16 hr) before each session to ensure sensitized reward circuitry. During fasting, participants were only permitted to drink water. Ad-libitum water drinking was encouraged to prevent dehydration. Water consumption was to be kept constant between sessions. The consumption of nicotine and caffeine was only allowed for daily users, and these participants were instructed to stick to their habitual consumption patterns. For caffeine users, only coffee and tea without additional substances were allowed. Alcohol was prohibited during the 24 hr before testing. Participants were asked to abstain from strenuous exercise 24 hr before a session. The use of any additional psychoactive substance or medication in the 24 hr before testing was prohibited. Participants were contacted before each session to remind them to adhere to the preparation regimen.
Impact of Ramadan fasting on disease activity in patients with multiple sclerosis: a multicenter study
Published in Nutritional Neuroscience, 2022
Amr Hassan, Nahla Merghany, Fatima Ouchkat, Wafa Regragui, Hanaa Kedah, Sherif M. Hamdy, Maged Abdel-Naseer, Hatem S. Shehata, Nevin M. Shalaby, Nirmeen A. Kishk, Mona A. F. Nada, Mohamed I. Hegazy, Marwa Farghaly, Sandra M. Ahmed, Mona Hussein
Islamic fasting is reported to have several metabolic and immunomodulatory benefits [5,6]. Therefore, it started to gain popularity in medicine as a non-pharmacological option in the management of some diseases [7]. Nevertheless, it is crucial to emphasize that patients with chronic health problems should consult their physicians, before initiating fasting to avoid any detrimental effects of fasting on their health [8]. Intermittent fasting (IF) is a dietary pattern, through which periods of fasting and feasting occur in a cycle [9]. IF includes either time-restricted feeding (TRF) or alternate-day fasting (ADF). TRF consists of 8 h of calorie intake, while spending the remaining hours fasting [10]. ADF consists of 24 h of fasting and 24 h of feasting [11]. From the physiological perspective, Islamic fasting is similar to both TRF and ADF. Strong evidence suggested that Ramadan fasting and intermittent fasting share the same physiological changes associated with caloric restrictions for extended hours [12]. Ramadan fasting (like IF) was found to exert immune attenuation through the significant decrease of the pro-inflammatory cytokines (Interleukin-1β, Interleukin-6, and tumor necrosis factor-α), the pro-inflammatory chemokines (CXCL1 and CXCL10), and the constitutive chemokine (CXCL12), in addition to the enhanced macrophage activity and improved neutrophil phagocytic activity [13,14].
Intermittent fasting implementation and association with eating disorder symptomatology
Published in Eating Disorders, 2022
Kelly Cuccolo, Rachel Kramer, Thomas Petros, McKena Thoennes
The most commonly endorsed reason for using IF was weight loss (46.2%). Other reasons for using IF included ‘to feel better’ (20.0%), to ‘lose fat’ (15.4%), convenience (7.7%), health reasons, broadly (4.6%), to gain muscle (1.5%), doctor/medically recommended (1.5%), appearance reasons (1.5%) and other (1.5%) The total average calories consumed on fasting days was 1254.46 (SD = 822.94) which appears lower than the average American (Grotto & Zied, 2010; U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, 2010; U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. 2020). The average duration of fasting during a 24-hour period was 15.36 hours (SD = 4.44), with the most typical start times of the fasts being in the evening (19:00–22:00; 37.7%). The majority (55.6%) of participants indicated that they fasted every day, with the remaining participants reporting fasting on weekdays only (13.9%), weekends only (2.8%), or a combination of some weekdays and weekends (27.8%).