Latest Research
(1) Background: Chronic inflammation and insulin resistance are associated with cardiometabolic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Therapeutic water-only fasting and whole-plant-food refeeding was previously shown to improve markers of cardiometabolic risk and may be an effective preventative treatment but sustained… Read More
Short-term fasting (STF), using a low caloric, low protein fasting mimicking diet (FMD), appears to be a promising strategy to enhance chemotherapy-based cancer efficacy, while potentially alleviating toxicity. Preclinical results suggest that enhanced tumor immunity and decreased growth signaling, via lowering of circulating insulin and insulin growth factor 1 (IGF-1) levels form the… Read More
Fasting has been practiced for millennia, for religious, ethical, or health reasons. It is also commonplace among different species, from humans, to animals, to lower eukaryotes. Research on fasting is gaining traction based on recent studies that show its role in many adaptive cellular responses such as the reduction of oxidative damage and inflammation, increase of energy metabolism, and in… Read More
AIMS: Animal models repeatedly show fasting increases longevity. Human data, though, are limited to anecdotal claims. This study evaluated the association of routine fasting with survival and, secondarily, with incident major adverse cardiovascular events. METHODS AND RESULTS: Cardiac catheterization patients enrolled in the Intermountain INSPIRE longitudinal cohort (n = 2785) during 2013-2015… Read More
With the global rise in obesity and the metabolic syndrome, double diabetes is increasingly prevalent in patients with type 1 diabetes. This review investigated the effects of diet on weight management and metabolic outcomes in patients with double diabetes. MEDLINE, CENTRAL, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, ERIC, and Web of Science databases were searched through September 2020. Population- or… Read More
Age-associated diseases are rising to pandemic proportions, exposing the need for efficient and low-cost methods to tackle these maladies at symptomatic, behavioral, metabolic, and physiological levels. While nutrition and health are closely intertwined, our limited understanding of how diet precisely influences disease often precludes the medical use of specific dietary interventions. Caloric… Read More
The overconsumption of calorie-dense foods high in added salt, sugar, and fat is a major contributor to current rates of obesity, and methods to reduce consumption are needed. Prolonged water-only fasting followed by an exclusively whole-plant-food diet free of added salt, oil, and sugar may reduce the consumption of these hyper-palatable foods, but such effects have not been quantified.… Read More
Psoriasis is an immune-mediated, inflammatory disease with a chronic relapsing nature that is characterized by increased skin proliferation and systemic manifestations.1 Topical and systemic medications manage inflammation and typically require long-term adherence to avoid relapse. 2 Here we present the case of a man with chronic, severe plaque psoriasis that regressed into remission after a… Read More
(1) Background: Cardiometabolic disease, including insulin resistance, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension, are major contributors to adverse health outcomes. Fasting has gained interest as a nonpharmacological therapeutic adjunct for these disorders.
(2) Methods: We conducted a prospective, single-center study on the effects of prolonged water-only fasting followed by an exclusively whole-… Read More
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is characterized by dysregulation of stress systems and by abnormalities in cerebral energy metabolism. Stress induction has been shown to impact neurometabolism in healthy individuals. Contrarily, neurometabolic changes in response to stress are insufficiently investigated in MDD patients. Metabolic stress was induced in MDD patients (MDD, N = 24) and in… Read More