While the benefits of intermittent fasting for weight loss are pretty well known, restricting your eating to set time periods can do much more than just trim your waistline. Intermittent fasting can also trigger a range of other benefits, including increased stress resistance, longer lifespan, and a lowered risk of obesity and cancer, according to a new study from researchers at Johns Hopkins University. The study was published yesterday in The New England Journal of Medicine.
“We are at a transition point where we could soon consider adding information about intermittent fasting to medical school curricula alongside standard advice about healthy diets and exercise,” neuroscientist Mark Mattson, one of the authors of the study, said in a Johns Hopkins press release.
By analyzing several previous studies of people and animals on a time-restricted diet, the researchers found mounting evidence that intermittent fasting can have a powerful effect on overall health. While individual fasting regimens vary, the meal plans the researchers studied generally fell into two categories: eating only in a six to eight hour window every day, and eating only one modest meal on two days of the week, USA Today reports. (We’d argue that there’s a third way to fast as well.) The researchers found positive health effects with both methods.
First, the new study shows that fasting could provide a boost for heart health. Mattson told the Johns Hopkins blog that previous studies already show fasting can reduce stress, improve blood sugar regulation, and reduce inflammation. In addition, four separate studies on humans and animals found that intermittent fasting helped lower blood pressure, blood lipid levels, and resting heart rates—all key improvements in cardiac health. (MORE)
Source: Mens Journal
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