6 Health Benefits of Intermittent Fasting

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Spiritualists have long claimed fasting as a remedy for the soul, but recent studies have shown it to be great for the body as well.

Research on calorie restriction has been going on, in earnest, since the 1930’s, after, according to Scientific American, “Cornell University nutritionist Clive McCay discovered that rats subjected to stringent daily dieting from an early age lived longer.” Over the next decades, researchers found that intermittent fasting, when not accompanied by subsequent overeating, has the possibility of extending lifespan and delaying development of the disorders that lead to death.

Calorie restriction is also, of course, a great way to control weight. The key to intermittent fasting is to form a plan and stick to it—don’t just randomly skip meals. The body loves regularity, and once it adapts to a certain eating schedule, hunger becomes easier to manage.

Intermittent fasting has the potential to have an amazing effect on overall health and wellness, so if you want to get on board and learn what it can do for you, take a look at these 6 health benefits of intermittent fasting.

Cellular Repair

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Mark Mattson, head of the National Institute on Aging’s neuroscience laboratory, puts forth the idea that intermittent fasting can stave off age-related cellular damage. In a 2003 mouse study, he found that mice that regularly fasted were healthier, overall, than those that didn’t.

This is because, when we fast for a period of time, our cells begin a waste removal process called autophagy, in which cells break down and metabolize the “junk” that builds up inside them over time. In essence, when no outside energy is provided, cells get rid of their unneeded waste by converting into energy for themselves. The accumulation of this cell waste is thought to be one of the main reasons for accumulated cell damage and overall aging.

An increase in autophagy is currently thought to provide protection from many age-related disorders, including cancer and diseases of the brain. It can also act as a tumor-suppressor, working against certain cancers, as we’ll see on the next slide.

Cancer Prevention

Cancer occurs when cells begin to grow out of control, possibly spreading out and invading other parts of the body. Causes can range from tobacco use, alcohol, infections which change cellular genes, to ionizing radiation and inherited genetic defects. It is one of the leading causes of death in developed countries.

Remember autophagy? The waste removal process suppresses tumors, helping prevent cancer, and also helping to keep existing cancer in check. In a study, 66.7 percent of a population of tumor-afflicted rats went on to survive while on a calorie-restricted dietary regimen, while only 20.8 percent of those eating an unrestricted diet survived.

Intermittent fasting may also work to prevent normal cells from being damaged by chemotherapy. In another study, chemotherapy patients reported a reduction in weakness, fatigue, and gastrointestinal side effects while fasting.

If you suffer from cancer, you should always consult your doctor before making any dietary changes, especially one that involves fasting. The future, however, looks hopeful, as more research is conducted into fasting’s effects on tumor growth and chemotherapy protection.

Brain Health

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Fasting is good for your brain.

Intermittent fasting has been shown to inflammation, oxidative stress, and to reduce blood sugar and insulin resistance.

Fasting also increases the levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, a brain hormone which, if lacked, can cause depression, as well as many other problems.

Mark Mattson, head of the National Institute on Aging’s neuroscience laboratory, found that intermittent fasting probably lowers the risks of degenerative brain diseases later in life. Periodic fasting, in rats, has been proven to protect neurons from certain kinds of stress damage. In follow-up studies, Mattson’s group also found that dietary restriction resulted in protection from stroke damage, motor deficits, and slowed cognitive decline in mice engineered to show symptoms of Alzheimer’s. Mattson thinks that fasting acts as a sort of mild stress that continually amps up cellular defenses against molecular damage.

While fasting may, at first, make you feel a little lightheaded, it’s ultimately good for the brain, so try it out!

An Extended Lifespan

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One of the most exciting areas of fasting research involves lifespan.

While most of us have been conditioned to eat three meals a day, this is actually a fairly recent development for humans. The diets of our ancestors were volatile—there were periods of fasting followed by periods of plenty, and our bodies are still somewhat adapted to this.

In one study—the most famous—28 rats were maintained on a fasting-styled diet, and were found to live 83 percent longer than the free-feeding group. It’s likely that, because of all of the health markers fasting affects, it produces an overall effect of a longer lifespan. Cellular protection, brain health, and blood sugar regulation all work together to possibly bequeath a higher quality of life to fasters.

There are many different fasting plans, some of which involve entire days, and some of which merely involve skipping a single meal. You can check a few of them out here.

Protection Against Diabetes

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Type 2 diabetes is one of the fastest-growing disorders in the United States, and is marked by high blood sugar and high insulin resistance. When the body cannot process glucose—a bodily source of energy—because of a lack of insulin, or the body’s cells not being able to properly respond to insulin, a host of complications can develop, including nerve damage, damage to blood vessels, and cognitive deficits, just to name a few.

Intermittent fasting has proven to have a positive effect on insulin resistance, the correction of which aids in the body’s proper processing of glucose. A study, found here, shows that both intermittent fasting and general calorie restriction both lower insulin resistance, which helps the body process glucose.

For those who are at risk for developing type 2 diabetes, especially, intermittent fasting, combined with a healthy exercise regimen, may significantly reduce the risk of developing the disease. More research is required before definitive conclusions can be reached, but fasting appears to be surprisingly protective against diabetes.

Lose Weight

Finally, we have the most popular effect of fasting—weight loss. Weight loss occurs when we expend more calories than we take in—unless a health problem is causing the retention of fluids, that is. Fasting simply results in our eating fewer calories, which can result in a loss of weight.

Fasting works in more ways than one to help us lose weight, however. According to this study, fasting actually increases our metabolic rate by 3.6 to 14 percent, helping us burn all the more calories. The type of fat lost during fasting is also significant—those who fast intermittently lose more belly fat, which is harmful fat in the abdominal cavity.

Working on both sides of the weight loss equation—causing more calories to be burned while, simultaneously, causing us to consume fewer calories—intermittent fasting is one of the best weight loss aids when combined with a healthy diet and exercise.