A recent Medscape review on the medical benefits of fasting, published in July, got me pressing pause on the food button. Now don’t worry, we’re not taking the “breatharian” path…but for those of us perpetually well-fed people, going hungry has never seemed perhaps so appealing. This fasting focus has brought forth a handful of small but promising investigations and the positive attributes stretch over a huge span of body systems and pathological conditions.
Fasting is one of the cornerstones of naturopathy and in contrast with much of our therapeutic offerings these days does not discriminate in terms of costs. It’s financially available to absolutely everyone. But it might not necessarily, of course, be right for all. It has a long history of healing and is an effective non-pharmacologic strategy to counteract modern health epidemics such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and improving cognition.
The demarginalization of fasting has given way to new strategies and fasting models with much credit due to the work of Dr. Michael Mosely. Today the widely used umbrella term of intermittent fasting covers a vast array of implementations with varying levels of evidence, efficacy, and different treatment objectives. They range from the famous 5:2 diet (partakers restrict themselves to 500-600 calories for two days and eat their normal diet for the rest of the week) to the time-restricted (people eat a normal amount of calories but only within a certain time frame) and the alternate-day diet (“nothing one day and everything the next”). Both periodic fasting (abstinence of food or energy-containing drinks for days /weeks) and fasting-mimicking (minimal amount of food with therapeutic effect -> motto is well nourished but less stressed☺️) are looking especially promising in relation to obesity, high cholesterol, HBP, inflammation, high triglycerides and high fasting glucose/metabolic syndrome.
Larger studies, of course, are needed in order to confirm the efficacy and safety of food abstinence and clarify perhaps who this isn’t sensible for (think Gilberts, think high cortisol anxious, think Low T3…see below). Now, clinical trials are commonly funded with the prospect that the product of investigation will pay off the costly research – who’s got the next round? 😉
When not to fast? Well, perhaps you’re already seeing a negative impact of dietary restriction (especially carb restriction) on some of your clients’ HPT dynamics and results? Heard of Thyroid Hibernation? There are some people, who can’t afford to do any protracted fasting of course, and these patients represent one vulnerable group… want to learn more about this important form of subclinical hypothyroidism…check this one out.