Study identifies multi-organ response to seven days without food
www.sciencedaily.com
New findings reveal that the body undergoes significant, systematic changes across multiple organs during prolonged periods of fasting. The results demonstrate evidence of health benefits beyond weight loss, but also show that any potentially health-altering changes appear to occur only after three days without food.

Fasting for a week:

  • Causes significant changes in protein levels across various organs.
  • May have health benefits beyond weight loss, but only after 3 days.
  • Switches energy source from glucose to fat after 2-3 days.
  • Average weight loss of 5.7 kg (fat and muscle), with most fat loss sustained after 3 days of eating.

Implications:

  • Provides insights into the molecular basis of fasting’s health effects.
  • Paves the way for developing alternative treatments based on fasting benefits.
  • Confirms historical use of fasting for specific health conditions.
  • rowinxavier@lemmy.world
    187·
    9 months ago

    You will drop a bunch of water at the start if you are eating carbs beforehand because of the water holding the glycogen in your muscles. As you use the glycogen the water holding it also goes, so it isn’t fat loss, just water weight.

    • RainfallSonata@lemmy.world
      112·
      9 months ago

      The volunteers lost an average of 5.7 kg of both fat mass and lean mass. After three days of eating after fasting, the weight stayed off – the loss of lean was almost completely reversed, but the fat mass stayed off.

      • rowinxavier@lemmy.world
        121·
        9 months ago

        Yes, correct, so a smaller portion is fat loss but not the full 5.7kg average. I should have been clearer, they did lose a meaningful amount of weight and it does seem to be beneficial, but it is not 5.7kg of fat loss per person on average, it is a loss of 5.7kg average mass with a portion of that being actual body fat.

    • solrize@lemmy.world
      410·
      9 months ago

      Wait you mean no water? Don’t you die of dehydration? That doesn’t sound good.

      • Dojan@lemmy.world
        82·
        9 months ago

        No no, they are saying that you’ll lose a bunch of water weight. As far as I know you generally regain that quite easily once you start eating again.

        Personally I subscribe to the idea of calories in < calories out. Sustainable weight loss requires good habits and a healthy relationship with food.

        • constantokra@lemmy.one
          81·
          9 months ago

          There’s a lot of data that shows that restricting calories causes your metabolism to lower. Fasting basically causes your body to shift to using fat stores, so it still does have adequate fuel # and your metabolism doesn’t fall the same way. It also changes your insulin response, and insulin resistance is one of the reasons you put on weight to begin with. If you’re interested, Dr. Jason Fung has written a couple good books on.the subject. He’s also put out a bunch of YouTube videos on it.

          I’ve beef doing intermittent fasting for a while, and you do drop a good amount of weight very quickly. Most of it does stay off, but the idea is that you continue to fast periodically for weight management, typically limiting food intake to only a few hours daily.

          • PrincessLeiasCat@sh.itjust.works
            3·
            9 months ago

            Causes your metabolism to lower while you’re restricting calories, or potentially for good?

            I ask because I ended up doing this pretty drastically for a time (long story, not proud of it) but once I started eating “normally” again, could my metabolism speed up again?

            • constantokra@lemmy.one
              1·
              9 months ago

              I’m certainly not an expert, but my understanding is that the effect from restricting calories can last longer than the restriction. But it can increase again, and there are many other factors that affect the metabolism. Just like slowing if you don’t have many calories it can increase if you have more.

            • Fedizen@lemmy.world
              1·
              9 months ago

              My understanding is that severe shifts in calorie intake vs output can lead to lasting metabolic changes. I think the main example people point to is that all “biggest loser” contestants failed to keep their weight down even when they maintained their diets and exercise for a long period.