Study finds routine periodic fasting is good for your health, and your heart
Public release date: 3-Apr-2011
Contact: Jess C. Gomez
jess.gomez@imail.org
801-507-7455
Intermountain Medical Center
religious rituals, diets, and political protests. Now new evidence from
cardiac researchers at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute
demonstrates that routine periodic fasting is also good for your health,
and your heart.
Today, research cardiologists at the Intermountain Medical Center
Heart Institute are reporting that fasting not only lowers one's risk of
coronary artery disease and diabetes, but also causes significant
changes in a person's blood cholesterol levels. Both diabetes and
elevated cholesterol are known risk factors for coronary heart disease.
The discovery expands upon a 2007 Intermountain Healthcare study
that revealed an association between fasting and reduced risk of
coronary heart disease, the leading cause of death among men and women
in America. In the new research, fasting was also found to reduce other
cardiac risk factors, such as triglycerides, weight, and blood sugar
levels.
The findings were presented Sunday, April 3, at the annual
scientific sessions of the American College of Cardiology in New
Orleans.
"These new findings demonstrate that our original discovery was not a
chance event," says Dr. Benjamin D. Horne, PhD, MPH, director of
cardiovascular and genetic epidemiology at the Intermountain Medical
Center Heart Institute, and the study's principal investigator. "The
confirmation among a new set of patients that fasting is associated with
lower risk of these common diseases raises new questions about how
fasting itself reduces risk or if it simply indicates a healthy
lifestyle."
Unlike the earlier research by the team, this new research recorded
reactions in the body's biological mechanisms during the fasting period.
The participants' low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C, the "bad"
cholesterol) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C, the
"good" cholesterol) both increased (by 14 percent and 6 percent,
respectively) raising their total cholesterol – and catching the
researchers by surprise.
"Fasting causes hunger or stress. In response, the body releases
more cholesterol, allowing it to utilize fat as a source of fuel,
instead of glucose. This decreases the number of fat cells in the body,"
says Dr. Horne. "This is important because the fewer fat cells a body
has, the less likely it will experience insulin resistance, or
diabetes."
This recent study also confirmed earlier findings about the effects
of fasting on human growth hormone (HGH), a metabolic protein. HGH works
to protect lean muscle and metabolic balance, a response triggered and
accelerated by fasting. During the 24-hour fasting periods, HGH
increased an average of 1,300 percent in women, and nearly 2,000 percent
in men.
In this most recent trial, researchers conducted two fasting studies
of over 200 individuals — both patients and healthy volunteers — who
were recruited at Intermountain Medical Center. A second 2011 clinical
trial followed another 30 patients who drank only water and ate nothing
else for 24 hours. They were also monitored while eating a normal diet
during an additional 24-hour period. Blood tests and physical
measurements were taken from all to evaluate cardiac risk factors,
markers of metabolic risk, and other general health parameters.
While the results were surprising to researchers, it's not time to
start a fasting diet just yet. It will take more studies like these to
fully determine the body's reaction to fasting and its effect on human
health. Dr. Horne believes that fasting could one day be prescribed as a
treatment for preventing diabetes and coronary heart disease.
To help achieve the goal of expanded research, the Deseret
Foundation (which funded the previous fasting studies) recently approved
a new grant to evaluate many more metabolic factors in the blood using
stored samples from the recent fasting clinical trial. The researchers
will also include an additional clinical trial of fasting among patients
who have been diagnosed with coronary heart disease.
"We are very grateful for the financial support from the Deseret
Foundation. The organization and its donors have made these
groundbreaking studies of fasting possible," added Dr. Horne.
team included Dr. Horne, Jeffrey L. Anderson, MD, John F. Carlquist,
PhD, J. Brent Muhlestein, MD, Donald L. Lappé, MD, Heidi T. May, PhD,
MSPH, Boudi Kfoury, MD, Oxana Galenko, PhD, Amy R. Butler, Dylan P.
Nelson, Kimberly D. Brunisholz, Tami L. Bair, and Samin Panahi.
Public release date: 3-Apr-2011
Contact: Jess C. Gomez
jess.gomez@imail.org
801-507-7455
Intermountain Medical Center
Study finds routine periodic fasting is good for your health, and your heart
Fasting found to reduce cardiac risk factors, such as triglycerides, weight, and blood sugar levels
Murray, UT (4/03/11) – Fasting has long been associated withreligious rituals, diets, and political protests. Now new evidence from
cardiac researchers at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute
demonstrates that routine periodic fasting is also good for your health,
and your heart.
Today, research cardiologists at the Intermountain Medical Center
Heart Institute are reporting that fasting not only lowers one's risk of
coronary artery disease and diabetes, but also causes significant
changes in a person's blood cholesterol levels. Both diabetes and
elevated cholesterol are known risk factors for coronary heart disease.
The discovery expands upon a 2007 Intermountain Healthcare study
that revealed an association between fasting and reduced risk of
coronary heart disease, the leading cause of death among men and women
in America. In the new research, fasting was also found to reduce other
cardiac risk factors, such as triglycerides, weight, and blood sugar
levels.
The findings were presented Sunday, April 3, at the annual
scientific sessions of the American College of Cardiology in New
Orleans.
"These new findings demonstrate that our original discovery was not a
chance event," says Dr. Benjamin D. Horne, PhD, MPH, director of
cardiovascular and genetic epidemiology at the Intermountain Medical
Center Heart Institute, and the study's principal investigator. "The
confirmation among a new set of patients that fasting is associated with
lower risk of these common diseases raises new questions about how
fasting itself reduces risk or if it simply indicates a healthy
lifestyle."
Unlike the earlier research by the team, this new research recorded
reactions in the body's biological mechanisms during the fasting period.
The participants' low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C, the "bad"
cholesterol) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C, the
"good" cholesterol) both increased (by 14 percent and 6 percent,
respectively) raising their total cholesterol – and catching the
researchers by surprise.
"Fasting causes hunger or stress. In response, the body releases
more cholesterol, allowing it to utilize fat as a source of fuel,
instead of glucose. This decreases the number of fat cells in the body,"
says Dr. Horne. "This is important because the fewer fat cells a body
has, the less likely it will experience insulin resistance, or
diabetes."
This recent study also confirmed earlier findings about the effects
of fasting on human growth hormone (HGH), a metabolic protein. HGH works
to protect lean muscle and metabolic balance, a response triggered and
accelerated by fasting. During the 24-hour fasting periods, HGH
increased an average of 1,300 percent in women, and nearly 2,000 percent
in men.
In this most recent trial, researchers conducted two fasting studies
of over 200 individuals — both patients and healthy volunteers — who
were recruited at Intermountain Medical Center. A second 2011 clinical
trial followed another 30 patients who drank only water and ate nothing
else for 24 hours. They were also monitored while eating a normal diet
during an additional 24-hour period. Blood tests and physical
measurements were taken from all to evaluate cardiac risk factors,
markers of metabolic risk, and other general health parameters.
While the results were surprising to researchers, it's not time to
start a fasting diet just yet. It will take more studies like these to
fully determine the body's reaction to fasting and its effect on human
health. Dr. Horne believes that fasting could one day be prescribed as a
treatment for preventing diabetes and coronary heart disease.
To help achieve the goal of expanded research, the Deseret
Foundation (which funded the previous fasting studies) recently approved
a new grant to evaluate many more metabolic factors in the blood using
stored samples from the recent fasting clinical trial. The researchers
will also include an additional clinical trial of fasting among patients
who have been diagnosed with coronary heart disease.
"We are very grateful for the financial support from the Deseret
Foundation. The organization and its donors have made these
groundbreaking studies of fasting possible," added Dr. Horne.
###
Members of the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute researchteam included Dr. Horne, Jeffrey L. Anderson, MD, John F. Carlquist,
PhD, J. Brent Muhlestein, MD, Donald L. Lappé, MD, Heidi T. May, PhD,
MSPH, Boudi Kfoury, MD, Oxana Galenko, PhD, Amy R. Butler, Dylan P.
Nelson, Kimberly D. Brunisholz, Tami L. Bair, and Samin Panahi.
