13 Health Benefits Of Intermittent Fasting You Must Know

Taking long breaks between meals can provide the boost your well-being requires.

Medically reviewed by Dr. Stacy Marie Chimento, MD Dr. Stacy Marie Chimento Dr. Stacy Marie ChimentoMD
Written by Charushila Biswas, MSc (Biotechnology), ISSA Certified Fitness Nutritionist Charushila Biswas MSc (Biotechnology), ISSA Certified Fitness Nutritionist linkedin_icon Experience: 6 years
Edited by Ravi Teja Tadimalla, BSc, Professional Certificate in Food, Nutrition and Health Ravi Teja Tadimalla BSc, Professional Certificate in Food, Nutrition and Health linkedin_icon Experience: 10 years
Fact-checked by Sindhu Koganti, BTech (Biotechnology), Certified Health & Nutrition Life Coach Sindhu Koganti BTech (Biotechnology), Certified Health & Nutrition Life Coach linkedin_icon Experience: 6 years
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Intermittent fasting has many benefits. First, it is good for weight loss. Second, it can help reduce the risk of many chronic diseases. Whether you choose to go on the 8-hour intermittent fasting routine every day or the 5:2 intermittent fasting every week, here are the 13 health benefits of intermittent fasting you can expect. Read on to know how IF can help you lose weight and stay healthy. Scroll down!

protip_icon Did You Know?
Fasting has been practiced in different cultures over centuries, but its effect on treating obesity was discovered in the 1960s.

13 Health Benefits of Intermittent Fasting

Knowing what intermittent fasting is and how it works is the best way to reap its benefits. Tracking your mealtimes and sticking to your fasting phase is believed to allow you to make the most of this practice.

1. Intermittent Fasting Can Lower Diabetes Risk

Intermittent fasting can lower diabetes risk
Image: Shutterstock

Diabetes affects about 463 million adults, 1.1 million children and adolescents, and 20 million live births in the world (2019 statistics) (1).

Diabetes may occur if the body fails to create insulin (type 1 diabetes) or becomes insulin resistant (type 2 diabetes) (2). Intermittent fasting is an effective strategy to reverse insulin resistance in people with type 2 diabetes.

According to a cross-sectional study that included 2,483 participants on the effects of intermittent fasting (IF) and non-intervention diet on insulin concentrations, IF could reduce insulin resistance compared with the non-intervention diet with a standard mean difference of 0.21 between the results of the two groups.

A small study of three people with type 2 diabetes had the people fast for 24 hours, three times a week. After the end of about seven months, all of them had better blood sugar control, weight, and waist circumference (3).

The Journal of Applied Physiology published a study to monitor the effect of intermittent fasting on people with type 2 diabetes. The scientists concluded that intermittent fasting increased insulin actionsevenfold and reduced blood glucose levels in the test subjects (4).

Furthermore, a study on diabetic rats showed that intermittent fasting improved glucose homeostasis (maintaining blood glucose levels) (5).

Another study concludes that intermittent fasting may be safe and tolerable in people with type 2 diabetes (6). Talk to your doctor before trying intermittent fasting if you have diabetes.

2. Intermittent Fasting May Improve Heart Health

Intermittent fasting may improve heart health
Image: Shutterstock

Heart disease is the leading cause of death (7). Poor diet and lifestyle choices are major causes of poor heart health. Intermittent fasting can helplower the risk of cardiovascular diseases.

It does this by lowering LDL cholesterol, reducing abdominal fat, decreasing leptin (the hunger hormone) concentration, and improving blood lipid profile (8), (9).

A study published in the American Journal of Cardiology shows that people who fast intermittently have a reduced risk of coronary artery disease (10). Intermittent fasting also can help improve cardiac function and potentially reverse cardiomyopathyi  A disease that affects the heart muscle and makes it tough for the heart to pump blood to the body, leading to heart failure.  in mice studies (11).

Another study showed that intermittent fasting improved the survival rate of rats with chronic heart failure (12). More human studies need to be done to confirm such findings hold true in humans.

3. Intermittent Fasting Reduces Oxidative Stress

Oxidative stress is the build-up of harmful free oxygen radicals in the body. It occurs due to increased metabolic by-products in the body, dead cells, pollutants, and radiation (13).

 Antioxidant enzymes, like superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione, help reduce oxidative stress. Researchers have found that intermittent fasting can increase antioxidant enzyme levels in people with obesity (14).

Studies show that intermittent fasting increases the level of glutathione and genes that reduce oxidative stress in lab animals (15), (16). Alternate day fasting in overweight adults showed a decrease in oxidative stress levels (17). Decreased oxidative stress, in turn, can help improve heart health and the risk of the following diseases.

4. Intermittent Fasting May Lower Cancer Risk

Cancer is the second leading cause of death. Chemotherapy, surgery, and novel strategies can help manage cancer.

New findings show that intermittent fasting without reducing calorie intake is a potential strategy to treat and prevent cancer (18). Fasting alters the growth factor, which affects the cancer cells’ ability to grow and thrive (19).

Women who fasted in the night showed reduced breast cancer risk in one study (20). Another study concluded that intermittent fasting could help people tolerate chemotherapy better (21).

Intermittent fasting also promotes autophagy (clearing dead cells), which can help reduce tumor cells and increase the effectiveness of radio and chemotherapy (22).

A comparative study on mice on a calorie-restricted diet and intermittent fasting stated that the intermittent fasting showed anti-cancer effects (23). However, more research is needed to determine the safety of intermittent fasting on people with cancer and/or undergoing chemotherapy (24).

5. Intermittent Fasting May Help Reduce Blood Pressure

Intermittent fasting may help reduce blood pressure
Image: Shutterstock

High blood pressure or hypertension is a common genetic and/or lifestyle-related non-communicable disease. Intermittent fasting helps lower blood pressure (25), (26).

Women aged 46-62 years showed a decrease in systolic and diastolic blood pressure (27). Time-restricted intermittent fasting improved insulin sensitivity and helped lower blood pressure in men with pre-diabetes (28).

6. Intermittent Fasting May Help Prevent Alzheimer’s

Alzheimer’s is a neurodegenerative disease that causes memory loss. Intermittent fasting is emerging as an effective nutritional approach to promote the brain’s ability to restructure its function and prevent memory loss (29).

Along with medication and workout, intermittent fasting can be used as a preventive strategy for Alzheimer’s disease (30).

A 4-week rat study showed that intermittent fasting may help prevent memory loss and improve energy (31). Another study on mice concludes that intermittent fasting restores cell membrane protein polarity, which is beneficial for reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s (32).

7. Intermittent Fasting Can Reduce Inflammation

Inflammation is the first step to healing. But chronic inflammation can lead to obesity, diabetes, cancer, arthritis, heart disease, stroke, etc. (33). Intermittent fasting increases adiponectin, a hormone that reduces inflammation (34).

Scientists also found that during Ramadan, people practicing intermittent fasting had fewer pro-inflammatoryi  Substances or foods (like certain nuts and fruits) that encourage or can trigger inflammation. molecules that helped control body weight (35). Intermittent fasting also helped retain muscle mass and reduced inflammation in resistance-trained males (36).

Researchers studied the effects of intermittent fasting on mice. They found that intermittent fasting had an anti-inflammatory effect on the neuroimmune systemi  Components of the nervous and immune systems that work together to protect nerve cells from pathogens. (37). This dietary strategy also reduced inflammatory markers in mice liver and preserved brain and cognitive functions (38), (39).

8. Intermittent Fasting Promotes Autophagy

Autophagy is the removal of damaged cells, proteins, organelles. It occurs in response to toxin build-up and DNA damage. The inhibition of autophagy leads to DNA instability, inflammation, and diseases (40).

Intermittent fasting has shown to improve autophagy, which prevents tumor cell growth and increases chemotherapy tolerance (22). Autophagy is beneficial for various types of cancers, like breast cancer, leukemia, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, myeloma, etc. (41).

Short-term fasting also enhances therapeutic neuronal autophagy (42). You may also practice an 8-hour diet or 16-hour diet under intermittent fasting as it can help enhance autophagy. A study on mice shows that intermittent fasting-induced autophagy decreases fat, prevents obesity, lowers lipid levels, and enhances muscle mass (43).

9. Intermittent Fasting May Help Reduce Belly Fat

Intermittent fasting may help reduce belly fat
Image: Shutterstock

Intermittent fasting is a popular method to help people lose weight (44). It can lower LDL cholesterol and BMI in some people and has also been found to help reduce belly fat (45).

Scientists have found that intermittent fasting results in lower waist circumference as compared to regimens of people on a calorie-restricted diet (46). Combining intermittent fasting with the Mediterranean diet also resulted in lower abdominal fat in East Asian Americans in a study (47).

Another study on people with obesity confirms that intermittent fasting can help reduce waist circumference, fat, and free fat mass (48).

Chris Lowe, a blogger, shared how he benefited from intermittent fasting in his weight loss journey: “Bodyweight dropped from 92 kg at approx. 20% body fat (just guessing as I didn’t get it measured at the time) to 72 kg at approx. 6-7% body fat. Basically, I went from being fat to being very lean, all in 16 weeks (i).”

10. Intermittent Fasting May Improve Sleep Quality

Not being able to sleep at night or staying asleep (insomnia) is a sleep disorder. It can increasethe risk of various diseases and impact mental health (49). Fasting intermittently has shown to improve the quality of sleep in people with obesity (50).

A study concludes that Ramadan fasting increases daytime sleep (51). Researchers have found that fasting increases alertness but also helps increase sleep time (52). However, more controlled human studies with larger samples are required.

11. Intermittent Fasting Can Help Maintain Muscle Mass

Every year, after the age of 30, muscle loss increases to about 1% of muscle mass per year (53). The mitochondriai  Cell organelle that produces the energy required to drive chemical reactions within the cell. in the muscles help maintain metabolic health (54). Muscle loss, in turn, slows down metabolism and can lead to age-related obesity (55).

Fasting intermittently can help preserve lean muscle (56). However, it is recommended to include resistance training in the workout regimen to lose fat and retain lean muscle while doing intermittent fasting (57).

12. Intermittent Fasting May Increase Longevity

Intermittent fasting can promote healthy aging (58). This, in turn, can increase longevity. It is a scientific  functional aging nutritional strategy that induces autophagy (removal of cellular waste), helps with cellular repair, may improve heart health, reduces inflammation, regulates blood pressure, helps reduce the risk of various types of cancer, prevent Alzheimer’s and dementia, and is good for people with type 2 diabetes (3), (8), (9), (18), (22), (25), (59), (60). In turn, such health benefits can increase the chances of one living a long, healthy life.

13. Intermittent Fasting May Help Manage Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)

Intermittent fasting has gained attention as a potential approach for managing Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). Studies suggest that intermittent fasting may aid weight loss and regulate menstrual cycles in women with PCOS. By cycling between periods of fasting and eating, this time-restricted-eating plan may boost weight loss, improve insulin sensitivity and menstruation, and reduce chronic inflammation and hyperandrogenemia (excess male hormones), which are common issues associated with PCOS (61). However, the effectiveness of this fasting plan varies among individuals. It is essential for women with PCOS to consult a healthcare professional before starting any fasting regimen. Proper guidance can ensure personalized and safe practices, addressing individual health needs while managing PCOS symptoms effectively.

12 benefits of intermittent fasting

Conclusion

Intermittent fasting is not a fad method for weight loss. It is scientifically proven to aid weight loss and improve health. However, it may not be a safe health solution for everyone, so be sure to talk to your doctor to know if you should fast intermittently and if so, how often in a week you should do it.

protip_icon Quick Tip
Intermittent fasting may also affect your mood and make you feel irritated and anxious.

The benefits of intermittent fasting are gaining more and more attention nowadays. It can improve the immune system, cardiovascular health and reduce diabetes risk, oxidative stress, cancer risk, and blood pressure. It can also help with disease prevention like Alzheimer’s, reduce belly fat, improve sleep quality, help maintain muscle mass, and increase longevity. There are various ways to practice intermittent fasting. However, it may not be suitable for everyone. Hence, consult your doctor before choosing intermittent fasting for weight loss. Also, know how many times you can do it in a week.

Key Takeaways

  • Intermittent fasting improves heart health by lowering LDL cholesterol levels.
  • Intermittent fasting can help you manage type 2 diabetes by reversing insulin resistance.
  • It also reduces cancer risk by promoting a process called autophagy (clearing dead cells), which helps to reduce tumor cells.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I drink coffee while intermittent fasting?

You may have black coffee in moderation, without any added ingredients.

Can intermittent fasting help lose weight without exercise?

You can lose weight on intermittent fasting even if you don’t exercise. However, if you add exercise, it ensures you lose more fat weight rather than muscle mass.

Is it OK to skip breakfast in intermittent fasting?

Ideally, with the 16-hour intermittent fasting, you are encouraged to skip breakfast. However, it also depends on the schedule you follow.

Illustration: Health Benefits Of Intermittent Fasting You Must Know

intermittent fasting benefits

Image: Stable Diffusion/StyleCraze Design Team

Intermittent fasting may have health benefits beyond weight loss. With the following video, discover how this popular diet can help improve your overall health and well-being.

Personal Experience: Source

References

Articles on StyleCraze are backed by verified information from peer-reviewed and academic research papers, reputed organizations, research institutions, and medical associations to ensure accuracy and relevance. Read our editorial policy to learn more.

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Dr. Chimento has 15 years of experience and is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana, where she studied at Loyola University and subsequently received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Miami. She graduated at the top of her class at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, where she was inducted as a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Society.

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Charushila Biswas
Charushila BiswasHealth & Wellness Writer
Charushila is an ISSA certified Fitness Nutritionist and a Physical Exercise Therapist. Over a span of 6 years, she has authored more than 400 articles on diet, lifestyle, exercises, healthy food, and fitness equipment. She strives to inform, educate, and motivate her readers via authentic, straightforward, and fact-checked information.

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Ravi Teja Tadimalla is a Co-Editor-in-Chief and a published author. He has been in the digital media field for over a decade. He graduated from SRM University, Chennai, and has a Professional Certificate in Food, Nutrition & Research from Wageningen University.

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Sindhu Koganti
Sindhu KogantiSenior Health & Wellness Writer
Sindhu Koganti is a Certified Health and Nutrition Life Coach and has over 6 years of experience in writing on health and wellness topics. She has a bachelor’s degree in biotechnology from Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur, and a diploma in nutrition from Fab Academy.

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