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The Largest Study on Fasting in the World

The AHA! Team — Fri, 22 Nov 2024 06:06:32 +0000

Michael Greger M.D. FACLM via Nutrition Facts – The Buchinger-modified fasting program is put to the test. A century ago, fasting — “starvation, as a therapeutic measure” — was described as “the ideal measure for the human hog…” (Fat shaming is not a new invention in the medical literature.) I’ve covered fasting for weight loss extensively in a nine-video series, but what about all the other purported benefits? I also have a video series on fasting for hypertension, but what about psoriasis, eczema, type 2 diabetes, lupus, metabolic disorder, rheumatoid arthritis, other autoimmune disorders, depression, and anxiety? Why hasn’t it been tested more? One difficulty with fasting research is: What do you mean by fasting? When I think of fasting, I think of water-only fasting, but, in Europe, they tend to practice “modified therapeutic fasting,” also known as Buchinger fasting, which is more like a very low-calorie juice fasting with some vegetable broth. Some forms of fasting may not even cut calories at all. As you can see below and at 1:09 in my video The World’s Largest Fasting Study, Ramadan fasting, for example, is when devout Muslims abstain from food and drink from sunrise to sunset, yet, interestingly, they end up eating the same amount—or even more food—overall. The largest study on fasting to date was published in 2019. More than a thousand individuals were put through a modified fast, cutting daily intake down to about ten cups of water, a cup of fruit juice, and a cup of vegetable soup. They reported very few side effects. In contrast, the latest water-only fasting data from a study that involved half as many people reported nearly 6,000 adverse effects. Now, the modified fasting study did seem to try to undercount adverse effects by only counting reported symptoms if they were repeated three times. However, adverse effects like nausea, feeling faint, upset stomach, vomiting, or palpitations were “observed only in single cases,” whereas the water-only fasting study reported about 100 to 200 of each, as you can see below and at 2:05 in my video. What about the benefits though? In the modified fasting study, participants self-reported improvements in physical and emotional well-being, along with a surprising lack of hunger. Vast majority of those who came in with a pre-existing health complaint reported feeling better What’s more, the vast majority of those who came in with a pre-existing health complaint reported feeling better, with less than 10 percent stating that their condition worsened, as you can see in the graph below and at 2:24 in my video. However, the study participants didn’t just fast; they also engaged in a lifestyle program, which included being on a plant-based diet before and after the modified fast. If only the researchers had had some study participants follow the healthier, plant-based diet without the fast to tease out fasting’s effects. Oh, but they did! About a thousand individuals fasted for a week on the same juice and vegetable soup regimen and others followed a normocaloric (normal calorie) vegetarian diet. As you can see below and at 2:54 in my video, both groups experienced significant increases in both physical and mental quality of life, and, interestingly, there was no significant difference between the groups. In terms of their major health complaints—including rheumatoid arthritis; chronic pain syndromes, like osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, and back pain; inflammatory and irritable bowel disease; chronic pulmonary diseases; and migraine and chronic tension-type headaches—the fasting group appeared to have an edge, but both groups did well, with about 80 percent reporting improvements in their condition and only about 4 percent reporting feeling worse, as you can see below and at 3:25 in my video. Now, this was not a randomized study; people chose which treatment they wanted to follow. So, maybe, for example, those choosing fasting were sicker or something. Also, the improvements in quality of life and disease status were all subjective self-reporting, which is ripe for placebo effects. There was no do-nothing control group, and the response rates to the follow-up quality of life surveys were only about 60 to 70 percent, which also could have biased the results. But extended benefits are certainly possible, given they all tended to improve their diets, as you can see below and at 4:00 in my video. They ate more fruits and vegetables, and less meats and sweets, and therein may lie the secret. “Principally, the experience of fasting may support motivation for lifestyle change. Most fasters experience clarity of mind Most fasters experience clarity of mind and feel a ‘letting go’ of past actions and experiences and thus may develop a more positive attitude toward the future.” As a consensus panel of fasting experts concluded, “Nutritional therapy (theory and practice) is a vital and integral component of fasting. After the fasting therapy and refeeding period, nutrition should follow the recommendations/concepts of a…plant-based whole-food diet…” If you missed the previous video, check out The Benefits of Fasting for Healing. Key Takeaways Fasting as a therapeutic measure has a long history, but its potential benefits beyond weight loss are numerous and underexplored. There are different types of fasting, including water-only fasting and modified therapeutic fasting (such as Buchinger fasting), which involves consuming low-calorie liquids like juice and vegetable broth. Ramadan fasting is also observed, where despite abstaining from food and drink during daylight hours, overall food intake may not decrease. Studies indicate that modified fasting may have fewer adverse effects compared to water-only fasting. Participants in a large modified fasting study reported minimal side effects like nausea or faintness, in contrast to more significant issues reported in water-only fasting studies. Participants in modified fasting studies reported improvements in both physical and emotional well-being, alongside reduced hunger. Those with pre-existing health conditions often experienced improvements, although a controlled comparison with a plant-based diet alone would help delineate fasting-specific effects. Combining fasting with a healthier lifestyle, such as eating a plant-based diet, appears beneficial. Both fasting and non-fasting groups in studies showed significant improvements in quality of life and disease symptoms, suggesting that dietary improvements might be a key factor. To read the original article click here.

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Does Coconut Oil Help with Abdominal Fat?

AHA Publisher — Fri, 10 Sep 2021 07:00:19 +0000

Michael Greger M.D. FACLM via Nutrition Facts – What does a review of the evidence on the effects of coconut oil on weight loss and belly fat find? I begin my video Flashback Friday: Coconut Oil and Abdominal Fat with a popular infographic that surprised me by showing that, evidently, there is promising evidence that coconut oil could help with obesity. Well, if you fill the stomachs of rats with purified medium-chain fatty acids, one component of coconut oil, they end up eating less food, as you can see at 0:25 in my video, but you don’t know if there’s any relevance to humans until you put it to the test. Researchers compared breakfasts with the same amount of dairy fat, coconut oil fat, or tallow (beef fat), and there was no effect on hunger, fullness, satisfaction, or how much the subjects then went on to eat at lunchtime. Where did this idea that coconut fat is somehow different from other kinds of fat come from? Six years ago, an open-label pilot study was published. Researchers asked 20 men and women to eat two tablespoons of coconut oil each day for a month. As you can see at 1:03 in my video, the men appeared to lose about an inch off their waist. But, since it was an open-label study, the participants knew what they were eating. There wasn’t a placebo control. In fact, there was no control group at all. Because of that, we can’t know if the effects would have happened anyway, even without the coconut oil. Indeed, there is a well-recognized effect in dietary studies where just being in a dietary study under observation tends to lead to a reduction in caloric intake, because the subjects know they’re going to be weighed and observed. We finally got a controlled study of coconut oil and waistlines in men and women in 2015. About a hundred men and women were given about a tablespoon of coconut oil a day for three months and, as you can see at 1:51 in my video, lost nearly an inch off their waist compared to control by the end of the study. What did the control group get instead of coconut oil? Nothing. There was no placebo, so the researchers compared doing something with doing nothing. When one does that, however, there is often a placebo effect regardless of the true efficacy of the treatment. What’s more, the researchers suggested that the coconut oil group may want to take their daily dose with fruit. If the subjects did end up eating more fruit, that in itself may have helped with weight reduction because, despite its sugar content, fruit consumption tends to be associated with “anti-obesity effects.” What we need to determine if coconut oil has some type of special effect is to give people a spoonful of coconut oil versus a spoonful of another oil and see if there’s any difference. When researchers did just that—giving subjects either two daily tablespoons of coconut oil or soybean oil—there was no significant difference in waistlines. But, the coconut oil group got a significant increase in insulin resistance, which is what eventually causes type 2 diabetes, and this was despite receiving instruction to increase fruit and vegetable consumption and cut down on sugars and animal fat, and engaging in an exercise program of walking 50 minutes a day, four days a week. The only other placebo-controlled study of coconut oil and waistlines was published in 2017, and, as you can see at 3:18 in my video, the researchers found no significant changes in weight, waist or hip measurements, total fat, belly fat, or butt fat. No benefit to coconut oil for obesity over placebo has been found in any study to date. How then can coconut oil proponents get away with saying otherwise? They like to talk about studies such as the one showing that Pacific Islanders who ate more traditional coconut-based diets are slimmer than those eating more modern diets with fewer coconut products. Okay, but what were those on the “modern dietary pattern” eating instead? “The modern dietary pattern [was] primarily characterized by high intake of sausage and eggs, and processed foods…” KEY TAKEAWAYS When researchers compared morning meals with equal amounts of fat from dairy, coconut oil, and tallow (beef), no effect was found on hunger, fullness, satisfaction, or the amount then eaten during lunch. The idea that coconut fat is unique to other fats appears to have come from an open-label study without a placebo or any control group at all, and, since the subjects knew what they were eating, we cannot know what effect, if any, the coconut fat may have. A controlled study of coconut oil and waistlines was also unsatisfying in that the control group didn’t get a placebo, so the researchers compared doing something to doing nothing, which can result in a placebo effect. Additionally, those in the coconut oil group were told they may take their daily dose with fruit, and increased fruit intake may itself help with weight reduction. Finally, a study was conducted in which subjects were given two daily tablespoons of either coconut oil or soybean oil, and no significant difference in waistlines was found. The coconut oil group did, however, get significant increases in insulin resistance, which may cause type 2 diabetes. To date, no benefit to coconut oil for obesity over placebo has been found. This article has been modified. To read the original article click here.

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