Intermittent Fasting: The Benefits of Fasting for Health and Longevity

Given the ongoing strain that the obesity epidemic has placed on public health outcomes, new and effective approaches to weight control are needed.

One approach to improving weight and metabolic outcomes is intermittent fasting, which consists of multiple different timing schedules for temporary food avoidance, including alternate-day fasting, other similar full-day fasting patterns, and time-restricted feeding (where the day’s food is consumed over a 6-h period, allowing for 18 h of fasting).

These feeding schedules have favorable metabolic effects by intermittently inducing the metabolism of fatty acids to ketones. The regimens overall lead to a decrease in weight and have been linked to improvements in dyslipidemia and blood pressure.

The following course outlines the major mechanisms to link fasting regimens with human health: (1) circadian biology, (2) the gastrointestinal microbiota, and (3) modifiable lifestyle behaviors such as diet, activity, and sleep and strategies to implement an intermittent fasting routine to improve health into your lifestyle.