A new study has revealed that intermittent fasting could potentially reduce the risk of diabetes, heart disease, and cancer by reshaping genes throughout the body and the brain, helping the interconnected organ systems work more smoothly.
Intermittent fasting—eating during a specific window of time—has become popular in recent years mainly as a method for burning fat.
It works by prolonging the period when your body has burned through the calories consumed during your last meal and begins burning fat.
However, the latest research points to other health benefits as well.
Prof. Satchidananda Panda, one of the most influential researchers with regard to intermittent fasting, has headed a new study published on Jan. 3.
The scientists observed two groups of mice given the same diet, with one given free access to food, while the other was restricted to eating within a feeding window of nine hours each day.
After seven weeks, they collected tissue samples from 22 organ groups, including the brain, liver, stomach, lungs, heart, adrenal gland, kidney, and intestine at various times of the day and analysed genetic changes.
They discovered that 70 percent of the mouse genes responded to fasting.
“By changing the timing of food, we were able to change the gene expression not just in the gut or in the liver, but also in thousands of genes in the brain,” Panda said.
Nearly 40 percent of genes in the adrenal gland, hypothalamus, and pancreas—key organs for regulating hormones—were affected by fasting.
These results suggest that fasting may help manage many diseases from diabetes to stress disorders, with or without pharmaceutical intervention.
“We found that there is a system-wide, molecular impact of time-restricted eating in mice,” Panda said.
“Our results open the door for looking more closely at how this nutritional intervention activates genes involved in specific diseases, such as cancer.”
Fasts May Also Reverse Diabetes
Earlier in Dec. 2022, a study published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, found that almost 90 percent of participants with type 2 diabetes reduced their medication intake after intermittent fasting.
Fifty-five percent of these people experienced diabetes remission, stopped their medication, and maintained it for at least one year.
It is advised for certain groups to talk with their healthcare providers before fasting, such as those who are pregnant or breastfeeding, taking insulin or other medications to control diabetes, or have a seizure disorder.