How can intermittent fasting help with your health?

Intermittent fasting may be a new concept for some, but it’s gaining a lot of popularity especially because of its touted health benefits. Intermittent fasting is not a diet in a classical sense since it does not limit the amount of food or restrict the type of foods eaten. Instead, it changes the time in which a person eats, most often practiced by fasting the whole day and only eating at a specified time once a day.

A research article published on Annual Review of Nutrition states that the benefits of intermittent fasting include prevention of obesity and its related conditions including diabetes and cancer. Another study in mice found that mice who fasted lived healthier and longer compared to mice that had free access to food. One study published in the journal Science Translational Medicine found that people who fasted showed marked improvements on disease indicators. Their fasting blood sugar, which is an indicator of diabetes risk, and their cholesterol and triglyceride levels all improved. It’s notable that participant’s lost abdominal fat without losing muscle mass.

How exactly does fasting help our body stay healthy such that we can reap these benefits? The current theory is when a person fasts, the body uses stored fat as a primary source of energy instead of using glucose. This is why those who fast showed a marked reduction in body fat compared to those who didn’t.

It is important to understand that despite having these benefits, not everyone should practice intermittent fasting. Those already in top health would not see as much benefit from fasting, and those who already have diabetes will struggle to achieve these benefits.

If you want to try out intermittent fasting, be safe and get help with your diet.

Metabolic Effects of Intermittent Fasting

https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev-nutr-071816-064634

Daily Fasting Improves Health and Survival in Male Mice Independent of Diet Composition and Calories

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1550413118305126?dgcid=rss_sd_all

Fasting-mimicking diet and markers/risk factors for aging, diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease

http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/9/377/eaai8700

Important Points:

Diabetes
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Fatigue
Multiple Sclerosis

Gut Bacteria’s Effect on Brain Health

Our brain is one of the most complex living structures know to man. Until recently, we have viewed the brain as sole and central to our bodies function, but today there is new information telling us that the brain might not be working on its own. We would never typically associate the brain’s complicated functions with the system responsible for processing our food, but there is a strong connection. Our brain function is heavily influenced by our gut, specifically by our gut bacteria.

Through science, we have determined that there is good and bad microbiota within our digestive system. Its careful balance is important in our nutrition and ultimately our survival. According to the study done by the European Academy of Neurology, the function of those bacteria may not be limited to nutrition alone. They have determined that this microbiota is capable of eliciting bravery and even triggering the disease process for multiple sclerosis. The research points out those mice that have a germ-free intestinal environment experience a state of relaxation, relatively free from anxiety, producing an effect of increased bravery. It was also shown that when the gut is maintained germ-free, there is an associated increased in the formation of the brain’s protective structure in the form of myelination. Lack of myelination or damage to the myelin sheath is one of the pathologic processes behind Multiple Sclerosis.

The strong link between the gut and the brain does not end there. A research finding published by the University of Illinois shows that gut microbiota can alter the body’s endocrine function. In the study, it was found out that black males with Type 2 Diabetes have significantly lower number of good bacteria and more of the bad ones.

Another recent study confirms the importance of a healthy microbiota to healthy rest and was published by Cornell University. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, a condition in which normal activity causes extreme weakness which is not alleviated by rest, has stumped doctors for decades. The findings revealed that those with the condition have a distinct inflammation found in the gut. Upon further analysis, it was found out that people with chronic fatigue syndrome have intestinal bacteria that can trigger the immune response causing the debilitating condition.

Recent studies all point out the significance of the gastrointestinal system in neurologic, endocrine, and inflammatory diseases. Perhaps a better approach is to start exploring the gut for the culprits first instead on focusing on the affected organ. It also opens up the playing field to new classes of drugs that can alter the microbiota instead of targeting the brain itself.

European Academy of Neurology. (2016, May 29). Connections between gut microbiota and the brain. ScienceDaily. Retrieved July 5, 2016 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/05/160529174445.htm

University of Illinois at Chicago. (2015, March 6). Gut bacteria may contribute to diabetes in black males. ScienceDaily. Retrieved July 5, 2016 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/03/150306102752.htm

Cornell University. (2016, June 27). Chronic fatigue syndrome is in your gut, not your head. ScienceDaily. Retrieved July 5, 2016 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160627160939.htm

Specific nutrients do cause an endorphin activation and a neurochemical effect in the brain.

Food combinations high in sugar, fat, and flavor are hyper-palatable. Highly palatable meals were 44% larger than the average meal, activation of hedonic motivational pathways, over time consumption of a highly palatable diet may lead to reductions in brain reward response capacity.

Food palatability (engineering and variety) stimulate appetite, reduce satiety, and promote excessive energy intake.

Increased variety and palatability also cause weight gain in animal models.

Sucrose (table sugar) is a disaccharide made of 50% fructose and 50% glucose.

Sucrose is metabolized primarily in the small intestine releasing equal parts glucose and fructose.
Glucose causes insulin release and is rapidly cleared from the blood stream by insulin dependent channels.

Fructose is independent of insulin and is rapidly taken up by the liver by a first-pass effect and is preferentially stored as fat.

Important Points:

Brain
Gut
Fecal matter
Microbes

Can studying gut microbiomes help brain disorders and mood disorders?

The relationship between the gut and the brain has now been scientifically proven to be a valid and working one. The Gut-Brain axis does exist, and it does affect our daily lives more than we know. In a controversial claim, the bacteria found in our guts may influence the way the brain works and therefore affect our moods.

The claim is based on a study in which a germ-free sterile mice, never exposed to bacteria, were found to be releasing twice the stress hormone when stimulated compared to normal mice. This inspired the theory that there is such a thing as psychobiotics or a group of microbes capable of exerting influence over the moods of people.

How is it possible that microorganisms from the gut can work its magic all the way to the brain? One theory suggests it does this through the stimulation of the Vagus nerve. The Vagus nerve acts as a sort of information superhighway between the brain and the gut. Another theory is related to how gut microbiomes breakdown food into chemicals that affect the whole body or even how tiny DNAs from the microorganism alter nerve function.

Scientists even discovered that transferring fecal matter between people not only rebalances gut microbiomes but also transfers behavior. In depressed patients who underwent a fecal transplant, their symptoms of anhedonia, or the lack of pleasure from things, virtually vanished after the procedure.

Another potential application of the study of gut microbiome is in the field of treating the brain disorder Parkinson’s disease. When fecal matter from Parkinson patients was placed inside the gut of mice, their brain symptoms became much worse.

With these pieces of evidence, researchers are hopeful that the future of medicine will rely heavily upon studies in the realm of gut-brain axis.

Glucose and Fructose have different effects on the addiction centers in the brain.

Fructose produced activation in the brain’s ‘reward circuit,’ and increased the desire for food.

Glucose does not directly activate the reward center.

American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. “Fructose and glucose: Brain reward circuits respond differently to two kinds of sugar.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 10 December 2014

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/12/141210080734.htm

Manufactured High Fructose Corn Syrup contains a ratio of 55:45 Fructose to Glucose.

High Fructose Corn Syrup was invented in the early 1970s and began to replace regular sugar in prepared foods around 1975. The onset of the obesity epidemic coincides with the use of HFCS.

Current sweetened beverages made with HFCS have a fructose-to-glucose ratio of approximately 60:40, containing 50% more fructose than glucose.

“Several major brands appear to be produced with HFCS that is 65% fructose. Finally, the sugar profile analyses detected forms of sugar that were inconsistent with what was listed on the food labels.”

The intentional and unlabeled increase in fructose seems strange:

Sugar content varied widely from amounts stated on labels, on average, the drinks had 18% more fructose than expected.

HFCS is supposed to be 55% fructose, as compared to 50% in table sugar. Most foods and drinks are supposed to be using HFCS that is 42% fructose.