Intermittent Fasting: The Secret to Better Health?
Elon Musk has done it. So has Jennifer Aniston. And British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak does it every week.
It's the diet trend that has become popular around the world: intermittent fasting.
Johns Hopkins Medicine describes it as "an eating plan that switches between fasting and eating on a regular schedule."
Some of these schedules include the "5:2 diet," which involves eating normally for five days a week and eating very little for two days. There's also the "16:8" schedule, which means fasting for 16 hours a day and eating all of your food during the other eight hours.
Studies have found that intermittent fasting — particularly every-other-day fasting — can be about as effective as any other low-calorie diet for weight loss.
When we haven't eaten for a number of hours, our bodies burn through all the calories stored in our muscles and liver, and begin burning fat instead.
And, as the Mayo Clinic notes, weight loss through intermittent fasting is probably about as effective as any other diet at reducing the risks of getting obesity-related diseases like diabetes and certain types of cancer.
But fans of intermittent fasting say the benefits go beyond weight loss.
A 2014 review in The New England Journal of Medicine noted that some studies had found that fasting may activate cell pathways that raise the body's defenses against stress and reduce inflammation, which could offer extra benefits against things like arthritis.
However, a more recent review from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health noted that it's still not clear what the diet's long-term effects are, or even what type of fasting schedule is best for health benefits.
Some people also suffer from tiredness and headaches during their fasts. And experts say it's not something that should be tried by children, or by people who are pregnant, who have a history of eating disorders, or suffer from conditions like diabetes.
One thing that everyone agrees on is this: if you're thinking about doing intermittent fasting, it's best to talk to your doctor first.
