New findings on the fad diet. A study from the Pennington Biomedical Research Center and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (United States) suggests that intermittent fasting could delay aging. The authors of the work, which was carried out with animals, wanted to find out if eating for eight hours and fasting for 16 each day could lengthen the life expectancy of the subjects, a positive effect that does occur with weight loss.
Now, they want to launch other research to test their findings in humans and are looking for healthy volunteers between the ages of 25 and 49 to participate in the trial. This study, which they have called 'DiAL-Health', aims to observe whether intermittent fasting or weight loss through calorie restriction can delay the effects of aging in people with a healthy weight and some overweight.
The work also wants to determine if either of these two plans can prevent the appearance of diseases such as diabetes or high blood pressure.
"We've known for almost a hundred years that eating less prolongs an animal's health and lifespan," said Dr. Corby Martin, director of the Ingestive Behavior, Weight Management and Health Promotion Laboratory at Pennington Biomedical. But the expert adds that reducing food intake can be difficult for some people, and that in these cases intermittent fasting can be an interesting alternative.
Dr. Leanne Redman, professor and director of the Reproductive Endocrinology and Women's Health Laboratory at Pennington Biomedical, says this research is very innovative, as it "will use newly developed smartphone apps to help people follow the program with minimal support from health advisors.
Although it has been a trend for at least four years and researchers around the world continue to study its possible benefits, it is still not clear if intermittent fasting is really good for your health. While some experts consider it a panacea, others have a more restrained opinion. For dietitian-nutritionist Aitor Sánchez, this plan can be beneficial if done correctly. In this article he explained that "it depends on several factors, such as the type of food that makes up your diet and the quantity. Especially since this practice only alludes to the fact that you are going to restrict the time window of your diet."
According to other professionals, such as dietitian-nutritionist Julio Basulto, there is not enough evidence to defend that this practice is good for health, but it has been shown that it can cause muscle loss. Other risks of this diet according to Basulto are loss of libido and sexual dysfunction, chronic fatigue, muscle weakness, increased susceptibility to infections, worse wound healing or social isolation.
At the other extreme, some experts believe that fasting is very necessary and insist that one of the main failures of our society is overeating, both by eating a lot and by doing it too often, so the digestive system should be allowed to rest. -hepatic at least 12 hours.
