HealthTalk
Doctor ’ s notes
Dr Rik Heymans is a general practitioner in Nerja and writes on developments in the world of medicine
For most of us human beings , a growling stomach works like a magnet drawing us to our refrigerator . However , for more and more researchers and followers of intermittent fasting ( the practice of voluntarily abstaining from food and nonwater beverages ), hunger is something not to vanquish but rather to embrace . From the beginning of Christianity - and also in other beliefs , fasting has been practised and prescribed : Did Jesus not fast for 40 days in the desert ( hence the practise of 40 days ’ Lent ). It was felt that , by leaving distractions like food and drinks behind , one could focus better on God . Nowadays , fasting has been shown to be an effective nonpharmacologic strategy for counteracting some of the most entrenched modern ailments , from cardiovascular disease and cancer to diabetes and diminishing cognition .
In the early 1990s my own science colleagues viewed fasting as irrelevant , and it was largely ignored by the medical community . Now things are changing very rapidly , and fasting is the most widely adopted diet in those under the age of 34 in the United States .
" Intermittent fasting " is an admittedly vague umbrella term but one that is nonetheless useful for describing a wide variety of regimens .
The most popular fasting regimen is undoubtedly the 5:2 diet , in which participants restrict themselves to approximately 500-600 calories two days a week but eat as they normally would for the remaining five days . It comes garnished with all-important celebrity endorsements ( for example , Jimmy Kimmel and Benedict Cumberbatch ) and glossy coverage in magazines you would find at any grocery shop checkout lane .
Other common regimens include time-restricted feeding ( eat a standard amount of calories , but only within a limited time frame ), alternate-day fasting ( eating nothing one day , then whatever you like the next ), and periodic fasting ( abstaining from food and energy-containing beverages for continuous days , sometimes stretching out to three weeks ). Because there have been no large randomized controlled trials comparing these different regimens , the medical science cannot yet establish superiority for any .
Proponents of fasting as a dietary intervention will probably have little difficulty communicating why there might be benefits to burning up the glucose in your system , and the myriad negative health effects it may cause when poorly regulated . However , they may find more resistance in overcoming the common belief that fasting slows down metabolic rates , which raises the question : if your body is compensating for lack of food in this manner , wouldn ' t this simply offset or limit any advantages to be gained ? In fact , this long-standing assumption began to change toward the end of the 20th century , when research emerged indicating that fasting for durations of a few days had the opposite effect of increasing metabolism .
The full spectrum of physiologic mechanisms contributing to increased metabolism during early food restriction is complex , involving such factors as circadian rhythm and a small increase in the fat-burning hormone norepinephrine .
The epidemic of obesity , and especially childhood obesity , occurred in the past 40 years with the obligatory eating pattern of three meals a day plus snacks . Clearly , that is not necessarily a healthy eating pattern . If people can avoid overeating by skipping meals , once they adapt to that , it can only be a good thing .
Research on the brain came up with an even more surprising finding : it was discovered that as a benefit of fasting an improvement in cognition and brain function occurred . There are abundant animal data showing that fasting-related ketogenic states lead to cellular and molecular adaptions in the brain that confer such benefits as resistance to stress , injury , and disease . And , people who fasted had a lower incidence of all types of cancers . This is clearly demonstrated by the fact that obese people have higher rates of cancers .
© Dr RIK HEYMANS c / Angustias 24 , Nerja .
Tel : 95 252 6775
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