Intermittent fasting is a type of diet that sees people going hungry for a certain amount of time in the day, or a few days in the week. I
t's pretty controversial, with many health experts declaring it unsafe, but that may not be the case at all, based on a recent study.
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According to a report published in Cell Metabolism this past week.intermittent fasting isn't just a fad, it has proven benefits as well. The researchers had their subjects stick to alternate day fasting for a period of six months straight.?
As it turns out, at the end of four weeks of this diet, they had improved cardiovascular markers, and reduced blood pressure and heart rate. People who followed the plan for the full six months also had lower levels of LDL "bad" cholesterol and triglycerides compared to those who ate normally.
Intermittent fasting also ensures you're in a calorie deficit, so the people in the programme ate 37 percent fewer calories than others, lost weight, and had improved fat distribution. They also ended up reducing the fat in their trunk and abdomen by about 14 percent on average.
More importantly, the researchers also say they uncovered no obvious adverse effects from people fasting intermittently over six months, indicating the practice might be safe. Additionally, they say the strategy might be a dieting method easier to stick to than others.
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According to Dr Thomas Pieber, one of the study authors and chair of the department of internal medicine at the Medical University of Graz in Austria, it's easy enough for humans to skip a day's food. "The truth is that our organism is ready to fast for much longer," Pieber told TODAY. "Ten thousand or 100,000 years ago, we didn't have breakfast, lunch and dinner and some cake in-between with our coffee.
"You just have to train your organism to get adjusted to that short-term fasting and after a few days, most people can adjust."