Intermittent Fasting

With the new year come new resolutions that oftentimes involve losing weight. Perhaps intermittent fasting is on the 2020 agenda.

A new paper was published in The New England Journal of Medicine on Dec 26th 2019, intended to help health care practitioners who are supporting patients with Intermittent Fasting (IF).  .

Intermittent fasting diets generally fall into two categories: daily time-restricted feeding, which narrows eating times to 6-8 hours per day, and so-called 5:2 intermittent fasting, in which people limit themselves to one moderate-sized meal two days each week.The mechanism that is thought to produce increased cellular health is the metabolic switching that takes place in all intermittent fasting protocols. 

In a study by the University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust, 100 overweight women followed the 5:2 protocol. When compared to the calorie-restricted group, the fasting group not only lost the same amount of weight, they reduced visceral fat and improved insulin sensitivity when compared to the calorie-restricted group. 

Another two-year preliminary study by the University of Toronto observed enhanced brain health in people following intermittent fasting programs. Mattson suggested, "We are at a transition point where we could soon consider adding information about intermittent fasting to medical school curricula alongside standard advice about healthy diets and exercise."