Another new dieting trend that has made its way into the media and has everyone talking the new diet is called “intermittent fasting” everyone is raving about it but does it truly work?? Intermittent fasting is a diet protocol where you eat food for a specific time period within the day and then you stop. One of the most popular fasting protocols is the 16:8 fast, meaning you consume no food or beverages for 16 hours and eat for only eight hours. Watch the first media clip below even the Today’s Show had a medical doctor by the name of Dr. Natile Azar come on their program and make claims that intermittent fasting can improve health and help with weight loss. Doctor Azar then goes on to say that more long term studies need to be concluded in order to determine if intermittent fasting truly holds up to it’s claims. Sounds kind of sketchy to me, what do you think??
In the second media clip below Dr. Oz who is best known for his medical personality show makes reference to the benefits of intermittent fasting stating that it is good for mental health, weight loss, diabetes and even makes you live longer. He states that during the window period that you are not eating you are burning fat. Although Dr. Oz makes these claims on the benefits of fasting he makes no reference to any scientific evidence based studies, again does this diet truly work? Where is the research? What do you think, fact or fiction?
The third media clip below is from CBS news “Health Watch” where internal medicine specialist Dr. Neeta Ogden also makes claims that intermittent fasting is good for one’s overall health and can even reverse age. She states that fasting decreases inflammatory markers, decreases cardiovascular risks and decreases weight loss. Dr. Neeta references a study that was concluded by “Cell Metabolism” She goes on to say that fasting works good with a plant based diet which means only eating “fruits and “vegetables” Dr. Neeta states that getting away from animal protein will improve health due to it causing inflammation in the body, in other words “swelling”. It sounds like this doctor has put some of her own personal dietary beliefs within her discussion because she makes no reference to any scientific evidenced based research studies on eating a plant based diet. So now that we know what we know, does intermittent fasting really work?? you be the judge on this, watch the videos below!
References
Intermittent Fasting May Have Health Benefits Beyond Weight Loss | TODAY. (2019). YouTube. https://youtu.be/8jTDBsKCiS8
Stekovic, S., Hofer, S. J., Tripolt, N., Aon, M. A., Royer, P., Pein, L., Stadler, J. T., Pendl, T., Prietl, B., Url, J., Schroeder, S., Tadic, J., Eisenberg, T., Magnes, C., Stumpe, M., Zuegner, E., Bordag, N., Riedl, R., Schmidt, A., … Madeo, F. (2019). Alternate Day Fasting Improves Physiological and Molecular Markers of Aging in Healthy, Non-obese Humans. Cell Metabolism, 30(3), 462-476.e5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2019.07.016
Study: 36-hour fasting could reduce weight, improve heart health. (n.d.). www.Cbsnews.Com. Retrieved May 7, 2020, from https://www.cbsnews.com/video/new-report-suggests-36-hour-fasting-could-reduce-weight-improve-cardiovascular-health/
TODAY, Dr. Oz Explains Intermittent Fasting. (2019, November 14). Dr. Oz Explains Intermittent Fasting | TODAY. YouTube. https://youtu.be/DSYXJJA7Nrs