by Elena Meli
Intermittent fasting helps you lose weight, but it also helps reduce the accumulation of fat in the liver, improves liver enzymes and insulin sensitivity. however, a strategy to be handled with great caution
Not for everyone, it must be done with criteria; but intermittent fasting could be an adequate solution for those with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, the so-called fatty liver: research by the University of Chicago has shown, albeit on a small group of volunteers, that adequately structured intermittent fasting can have positive effects on liver and general health.
Intermittent fasting
The data, collected on about eighty patients, show that alternate day fasting (i.e. a day of unrestricted diet, a day in which no more than 500 calories are introduced) combined with regular exercise leads to an improvement in the liver enzyme profile and a reduction in the fat accumulated on the organ, but also a positive effect on insulin sensitivity and weight. Not eating turns on the alarm mode and thus, once the glucose stocks in the circulation have run out thanks to meals, the body begins to use fat as a source of energy; then, after twelve, sixteen hours on an empty stomach, the metabolism changes and enters energy saving mode, i.e. it uses less energy while remaining efficient. Intermittent fasting, in which one abstains from food for a more or less long number of hours and with a certain regularity, can therefore help weight loss because it consumes fat, even the most hidden ones because they are found in the liver.
The lack of food is a stress for the body, which thus activates defense responses and, for example, gets rid of old and inefficient cells by literally using them as food, while at the same time starting DNA repair and stabilization programs to renew those that are still recoverable. When fasting ends there is a general improvement in the functionality of cells and tissues: for this reason abstention from food, in an intermittent and controlled manner, seems to be able to lengthen life, reduce the risk of tumors, improve mental lucidity. It can also be a food education lesson, because it teaches how to recognize true hunger.
The possible disadvantages
Of course, all the positive effects of fasting are obtained with a diet that is not completely unbalanced during free-eating moments, furthermore it is not a more decisive or better diet than those that reduce caloric intake less but every day because, when you go back to eating, you happen to recover at least a little of the weight lost during the fasting period. Furthermore, abstention from food often creates a false feeling of security and leads to uncontrolled overeating as soon as there is the green light, canceling out the possible benefits. Extending it to excess can then trigger negative processes, because the response to food shortages is by its nature an emergency procedure and cannot last too long, otherwise the stress on the body becomes excessive and dangerous for all organs and systems.
The contraindications
Undernutrition can be a problem
, if fasting is followed without criterion: therefore it is contraindicated especially for those who are more fragile in case of micro and macronutrient deficiency such as children and adolescents, pregnant and breastfeeding women, people with type 1 diabetes, patients with eating disorders. Fasting also turns on primordial survival mechanisms and induces an increase in dopamine, to have a clearer mind and find food better, but this substance can give a dangerous burst of gratification especially in the very young, where the brain is more sensitive to reward and less capable of exercising full control due to the immaturity of the brain areas responsible for exercising it: if there is a predisposition, it is easy to slip into an eating disorder. Fasting should never be followed without the help of a doctor, because if for example you take drugs it can influence their effects, nor should it ever be complete (zero calorie water and liquids, without artificial sweeteners, must never be missing) or followed for too many days in a row; It is a viable option for those who are healthy or have conditions that could benefit from controlled abstention from food, such as type 2 diabetes, high cardiovascular risk or ongoing anticancer therapy, but in these cases strict medical supervision is obviously even more imperative.
July 24, 2023 (change July 24, 2023 | 08:22)
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