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Intermittent Fasting Could Be Part of a Healthy Lifestyle, Studies Show – EcoWatch

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5 years ago

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A new review of the evidence published in the New England Journal of Medicine Thursday suggests that intermittent fasting — the practice of limiting how much you eat during the day or week — can actually be a healthy way to eat.

“The state of the science on intermittent fasting has evolved to the point that it now can be considered as one approach, with exercise and healthy food, to improving and maintaining health as a lifestyle approach,” senior author and Johns Hopkins Medicine neuroscientist Mark Mattson told HealthDay Reporter.

Mattson, who has studied the issue for 25 years and practiced it himself for 20, told the Johns Hopkins Medicine Newsroom that intermittent fasting usually takes two forms.

  1. “Daily time-restricted feeding,” in which people only eat for a six-to-eight-hour window every day.
  2. “5:2 intermittent fasting,” in which people limit themselves to two moderately-sized meals every week.

The diet probably works, Johns Hopkins explained, because it triggers a mechanism that evolved in humans to adapt to periods of scarcity, called “metabolic switching.”

Such a switch occurs when cells use up their stores of rapidly accessible, sugar-based fuel, and begin converting fat into energy in a slower metabolic process.

Mattson says studies have shown that this switch improves blood sugar regulation, increases resistance to stress and suppresses inflammation for various periods of time. Because most Americans eat three meals plus snacks each day, they do not experience the switch, or the suggested benefits.

Mattson and his co-author Rafael de Cabo of the Translational Gerontology Branch of the National Institute on Aging Intramural Research Program looked at studies that suggested a variety of additional health benefits. They included:

  1. Cognitive Abilities: A study of 220 non-obese adults who ate a restricted calorie diet for two years had improved memory function.
  2. Heart Health: Four studies in humans and animals found that intermittent fasting lowered blood pressure, blood lipid levels and resting heart rate.
  3. Diabetes and Obesity: Two studies of 100 overweight women found that those who followed the 5:2 intermittent fasting diet lost the same amount of weight as those who simply limited calories, but also had healthier insulin sensitivity and lower belly fat than those on the lower-calorie diet.

The authors said more research needed to be done to see if the benefits of the diet would extend to all types of people, Newsweek reported. Most of the studies to date have focused on overweight young or middle-aged adults.

People who are interested in the diet should speak to their doctors first, Newsweek cautioned, but Mattson said the diet would likely benefit those who are overweight and either at risk for or suffer from heart disease, diabetes and inflammation.

Hannah Kittrell, a registered dietitian and manager of the Mount Sinai PhysioLab in New York City who was not involved with the article, also told HealthDay Reporter that the diet could be beneficial.

“If you’re thinking of intermittent fasting as a fad diet, I think it’s actually a pretty legitimate option,” she said. “The reason for that is it’s not completely cutting out any food groups. It’s not telling you don’t eat carbs, don’t eat fat. It’s just modulating when you’re eating food.”

So if you’ve spoken to your doctor and decided intermittent fasting is right for you, how do you get started?

“[T]ry starting intermittent fasting with a spouse, partner or friends at work,” Mattson told Newsweek. “Just as with starting an exercise regimen it is easier to do with someone else than alone.”

You should also be sure to drink plenty of water and, when you do eat, eat healthy foods like vegetables, fruits, nuts, fish and lean meats, he said.

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The US is mailing Americans COVID tests again. Here’s how to get them

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13 hours ago

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September 26, 2024

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans can once again order COVID-19 tests, without being charged, sent straight to their homes.

The U.S. government reopened the program on Thursday, allowing any household to order up to four at-home COVID nasal swab kits through the website, covidtests.gov. The tests will begin shipping, via the United States Postal Service, as soon as next week.

The website has been reopened on the heels of a summer COVID-19 virus wave and heading into the fall and winter respiratory virus season, with health officials urging Americans to get an updated COVID-19 booster and their yearly flu shot.

“Before you visit with your family and friends this holiday season, take a quick test and help keep them safe from COVID-19,” U.S. Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Dawn O’Connell said in a statement.

U.S. regulators approved an updated COVID-19 vaccine that is designed to combat the recent virus strains and, they hope, forthcoming winter ones, too. Vaccine uptake is waning, however. Most Americans have some immunity from prior infections or vaccinations, but under a quarter of U.S. adults took last fall’s COVID-19 shot.

Using the swab, people can detect current virus strains ahead of the fall and winter respiratory virus season and the holidays. Over-the-counter COVID-19 at-home tests typically cost around $11, as of last year. Insurers are no longer required to cover the cost of the tests.

Before using any existing at-home COVID-19 tests, you should check the expiration date. Many of the tests have been given an extended expiration from the date listed on the box. You can check on the Food and Drug Administration’s website to see if that’s the case for any of your remaining tests at home.

Since COVID-19 first began its spread in 2020, U.S. taxpayers have poured billions of dollars into developing and purchasing COVID-19 tests as well as vaccines. The Biden administration has given out 1.8 billion COVID-19 tests, including half distributed to households by mail. It’s unclear how many tests the government still has on hand.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Free COVID tests are back. Here’s how to order a test to your home

Published

14 hours ago

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September 26, 2024

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans can once again order free COVID-19 tests sent straight to their homes.

The U.S. government reopened the program on Thursday, allowing any household to order up to four at-home COVID nasal swab kits through the website, covidtests.gov. The tests will begin shipping, via the United States Postal Service, as soon as next week.

The website has been reopened on the heels of a summer COVID-19 virus wave and heading into the fall and winter respiratory virus season, with health officials urging Americans to get an updated COVID-19 booster and their yearly flu shot.

U.S. regulators approved an updated COVID-19 vaccine that is designed to combat the recent virus strains and, they hope, forthcoming winter ones, too. Vaccine uptake is waning, however. Most Americans have some immunity from prior infections or vaccinations, but under a quarter of U.S. adults took last fall’s COVID-19 shot.

Using the swab, people can detect current virus strains ahead of the fall and winter respiratory virus season and the holidays. Over-the-counter COVID-19 at-home tests typically cost around $11, as of last year. Insurers are no longer required to cover the cost of the tests.

Since COVID-19 first began its spread in 2020, U.S. taxpayers have poured billions of dollars into developing and purchasing COVID-19 tests as well as vaccines. The Biden administration has given out 1.8 billion COVID-19 tests, including half distributed to households by mail. It’s unclear how many tests the government still has on hand.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Disability rights groups launching Charter challenge against MAID law

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14 hours ago

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September 26, 2024

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TORONTO – A coalition of disability rights groups says it is launching a Charter challenge against a part of Canada’s law on medical assistance in dying.

The group, which also includes two individual plaintiffs, argues that what’s known as track two of the MAID law has resulted in premature deaths.

Under the law, patients whose natural deaths are not reasonably foreseeable but whose condition leads to intolerable suffering can apply for a track-two assisted death.

The coalition says track two of the MAID law has had a direct effect on the lives of people with disabilities and argues medically assisted death should only be available to those whose natural death is reasonably foreseeable.

The executive vice-president of Inclusion Canada – which is part of the coalition – says there has been an alarming trend where people with disabilities are seeking assisted death due to social deprivation, poverty and a lack of essential supports.

Krista Carr says those individuals should instead be supported in order to live better lives.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 26, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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