Unless you’ve been hiding in an underground bunker for a long time, you’ve heard the term “intermittent fasting” before. Between the diet’s proponents and its naysayers (as with any diet), the truth is that it’s never been clear whether the proposal is healthy or not under the radar of science. In other words, there’s never been a long-term effort to figure out the “pros and cons.” And that’s exactly what just happened. with mixed results.
The popularity of intermittent fasting. We talked about it last year, and it’s probably one of the most popular dietary practices in recent years. Basically, we’re dealing with a practice where the eating pattern alternates between periods of eating and fasting. It doesn’t specify what foods to eat, but when to eat them. Something like a strategy used to manage weight and improve metabolic health.
Is it recommended? Well, here’s the crux of the matter. We explained a few weeks ago that regulating calorie intake is not without risks and controversies. A previous study found that Changes in the brain and digestive systemAlthough the cause-effect relationships were not clear, further study was needed.
The new study. The MIT work was performed using mice. Published in Nature I looked at how fasting could help regenerate intestinal stem cells. These cells are the source of new intestinal cells and regenerating them could help the intestine. While it was found to increase the regenerative capabilities of intestinal stem cells, as we will see below, it also provided some worrying news.
Experience. The researchers built on a previous study in which they discovered that fasting can increase the regenerative capacity of intestinal stem cells.
What did they do? They focused on how this process works. To do this, they studied intestinal stem cells from three different groups of mice: a control group that ate as usual, another group that fasted for 24 hours, and one that fasted and then was allowed to eat until full for the next 24 hours.
Conclusions. The team observed that these intestinal stem cells are actually being regenerated. It was suppressed during the act of fasting itself.But it then accelerated when the mice started eating again.
According to the researchers in the study, Omar Yilmaz, Shinya Imad and Sel“The main finding of our current study is that refeeding after fasting is a distinct condition from fasting itself. Refeeding after fasting increases the ability of intestinal stem cells, for example, to repair the intestine after injury.”
Bad news. We said it at the beginning, and unfortunately, the study doesn’t just provide encouraging news for dieters. While the boost in regeneration could allow gut cells to heal faster, they also found that it can come at a cost in the wrong circumstances.
Like? Apparently, when they introduced cancer-related mutations into these stem cells during the refeeding phase, the cells were more likely to Precancerous polyps causemuch more than during the fasting phase.
Tumor risk. In summary, if cancerous mutations occurred during this regenerative phase, the mice would have Increased risk of bowel tumors Early on. “Having more stem cell activity is good for regeneration, but too much of a good thing over time can have less positive consequences.” Omar Yilmaz confirms.
More tests. As with any pilot study, further testing will be needed to fully understand the results. Additionally, the real-world effects of fasting in humans should be more complex than what we can see in lab mice. Therefore, future experiments that monitor the same changes will be able to verify the good and bad in human intestinal stem cells before and after fasting.
“Since biological pathways are so complex and interconnected, the main conclusion of our current study is that comprehensive studies should be conducted to test the effects of any dietary intervention on the human body.” Remember in the studio.
Better understanding of diet. Finally, the work shows that the fasting mice produced several polyamines, organic compounds that play a role, for example, in helping cells grow, divide and become other cells.
This is important because the next step will be to test whether polyamine supplements can be used to easily mimic fasting in future studies. In doing so, they hope the work will help us get the most out of fasting.
“A careful analysis of the contribution of each phase of fasting (fasting versus post-fasting refeeding) will give us greater insight into how to plan such nutritional interventions to maximize regeneration while avoiding increased risk of other diseases such as cancer. trench.
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