Intermittent Fasting: A Potential Effective Strategy for Preventing Obesity and Type II Diabetes Mellitus.
Intermittent fasting, a form of calorie restriction, has gained popularity in recent years as a methodology for combating obesity and development or progression of type 2 diabetes. IF regimes
can vary in fasting durations. Common variations of IF include alternate day fasting, in which one day consists of a 75% energy restriction followed by a day of ad libitum food consumption or 16/8 IF, which includes consuming 100% of energy needs in an 8 hour time period followed by a 16 hour fast. Dysregulated insulin/glucose pathways, shown as glucose tolerance and insulin resistance.
In addition to being an effective method for weight loss, IF can also improve specific health indicators associated with chronic disease in the overweight and obese population, such as insulin resistance. However, limited research exists on assessing fasting glucose and insulin levels in patients undergoing IF. Mechanistic understanding the effects of IF can be beneficial towards attenuating or preventing the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases such as obesity and T2D
Similar effects of decreased blood glucose and insulin levels resulting from IF have also been observed in human studies. This suggests effects of IF treatment on the insulin transduction pathway, as well as pathways involving cytokine-induced food intake behavior, may be responsible for improving glucose tolerance. A study involving New Zealand obese mice undergoing a calorie restricted IF diet showed improved blood insulin sensitivity in an oral glucose tolerance test, higher blood glucose clearance in insulin tolerance tests.
Adv Food Technol Nutr Sci Open J. 2018; 4(2): e9-e12. doi: 10.17140/AFTNSOJ-4-e015
