June 16 2014. A presentation on June 14, 2014 at the 2014 American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions revealed a benefit over time for fasting on low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels in individuals with prediabetes, defined as elevated blood sugar that is not yet diagnostic of diabetes.
"Fasting has the potential to become an important diabetes intervention," announced lead researcher Benjamin Horne, PhD, who is the director of cardiovascular and genetic epidemiology at Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, Utah. "Though we've studied fasting and it's health benefits for years, we didn't know why fasting could provide the health benefits we observed related to the risk of diabetes."
Acting on the findings of a 2011 study of fasting in healthy people, Dr Horne and his colleagues studied its effects in prediabetics with at least three metabolic syndrome components. "During actual fasting days, cholesterol went up slightly in this study, as it did in our prior study of healthy people, but we did notice that over a six-week period cholesterol levels decreased by about 12 percent in addition to the weight loss," Dr Horne reported. "Because we expect that the cholesterol was used for energy during the fasting episodes and likely came from fat cells, this leads us to believe fasting may be an effective diabetes intervention."
"The fat cells themselves are a major contributor to insulin resistance, which can lead to diabetes," he added. "Because fasting may help to eliminate and break down fat cells, insulin resistance may be frustrated by fasting."
"Although fasting may protect against diabetes, it's important to keep in mind that these results were not instantaneous in the studies that we performed,” Dr Horne noted. “It takes time. How long and how often people should fast for health benefits are additional questions we're just beginning to examine."
