Another bit of research into Intermittent Fasting…
Here is another piece of research into intermittent fasting (IF). If you have read the various studies on this that I have already put up here and also considered the experiences of those undertaking occasional short fasts (18-36hours) you will have noted that in addition to the obvious fact that you consume fewer calories through fasting there are also key hormonal mechanisms that are activated by fasting, mechanisms that have a lot of health benefits.
This study follows up on the previous studies that have shown that IF can protect against cancer.
Effect of every-other-day fasting on spontaneous chromosomal damage in rat’s bone-marrow cells.
Dietary restriction in experimental rodents, either by calorie restriction (CR) or by every-other-day fasting (EODF), was shown to protect against cancer and increase lifespan. One of the suggested hypotheses to explain the beneficial effects of dietary restriction is that the diet stabilizes the integrity of the genetic information. The effects of EODF on the spontaneous frequency of sister chromatid exchanges (SCE) and chromosomal aberrations (CA) were examined in bone-marrow cells of 3-mo-old Wistar male rats. After 12 wk of EODF diet, significant reduction in the frequency of SCE and total number of CA was observed. Data indicate a protective effect of EODF diet against spontaneous mutations in rats.
Incidentally I will shortly be posting an interview that I’ve done with Brad Pilon - the author of Eat Stop Eat - the best book I’ve yet read on IF.
