Intermittent fasting is growing famous in recent times. Scientists are becoming fascinated with the positive effects of fasting in terms of health. Studies reveal that by managing the time that we eat gives more benefits than by controlling what we eat.
Fasting fights cancer, controls lipid and glucose
A study published in Nature Proteomics showed that a person in a fasted state could have more beneficial effects. The team found that people who fast could fight cancer and control lipid and glucose metabolism effectively.
The study included the body clock and found that disruption in the rhythm causes illness. The team found that their mice subjects showed an increased rate of cancer and metabolic diseases. After 14 hours of fasting, the mice showed a "reset" in their clocks. The reset allowed them to turn off the rhythm of their body clock.
The authors thought that the effect would be the same as humans. They theorized that intermittent fasting without calorie deficit could help humans induce an anti-cancer proteome. Other than that, fasting could help humans with the control of glucose and lipid metabolism.
The team also tried to see results in human subjects. They tested 14 healthy people with an average age of 32 for both men and women. The subjects fasted for 30 days from sunrise to sunset. The team allowed them to have pre-dawn breakfast and a twilight dinner.
Fasting had a lot of benefits
The 30-day program showed significant findings. The team found that the subjects produced anticancer serum proteomic signature. They also saw an increased response in glucose and lipid metabolism of key regulatory proteins. There were also positive findings with insulin signaling, the body clock, and DNA repair.
The researchers also checked the subject's cytoskeleton remodeling, immune system, and cognitive function. They found that fasting also gave out a good result. The 30-day fasting also resulted in a serum proteome that is protective against cancer, obesity, and diabetes.
Intermittent fasting also showed to help protect against metabolic syndrome, inflammation, Alzheimer's disease, and several neuropsychiatric disorders.
Read also: Can Intermittent Fasting Help You Lose Weight?
Intermittent fasting is not something new
Dr. Sachin Panda said that time-controlled eating is not a new strategy for scientific dietary. An expert in circadian biology, Dr. Panda said that he has been studying it for years.
Due to that, he has contributed to the overall body of evidence to prove that it is effective. Dr. Panda included some citizen-science crowd-sourced data and involved fasting at night. Some fasted hours before dusk, others after dawn.
The researchers followed a Ramadan-like strategy and found positive results. As expected, they found a proteomic signature. They achieved positive results without weight loss and any changes in the diet of the subjects.
They also found that several proteins had significant increases. These proteins usually are suppressed in the presence of different cancers.
During the ancient times, people did not have specific time of the day for eating. They would only eat when they are hungry or when there is food. It could be a reason that diseases were not that rampant in the old times.
Now that there are a lot of illnesses, people might consider fasting to help prevent getting ill. Who knows, maybe intermittent fasting could help treat certain diseases that have no known cure yet.
