Intermitten Fasting is Back to Origins

Nearly 50% of type 2 diabetes patients who followed a novel intermittent fasting regimen for three months experienced diabetes remission (HbA1c 6.5% without using diabetes medications) that lasted for a year, says a small, randomized controlled trial in China*. Every day, we discover different benefits of intermittent fasting.

The intervention was provided by nurses working in primary care rather than by specialized staff at a research institute, making it a more practicable and doable strategy to manage type 2 diabetes. This trial was carried out in actual life.

Additionally, the fact that 65% of the intervention group's patients experienced diabetes remission after having the disease for longer than six years "suggests the potential of remission for people with longer duration of diabetes," the authors write.

They observed that the intermittent fasting method reported in this study was innovative. The intervention was divided into 6 cycles (3 months) of 5 fasting days and 10 ad libitum days, followed by 3 months of monitoring (with no fasting days).

The study population is relatively small. The researchers did not note the specific anti-diabetic medications each patient was taking, nor did they measure the patients' waist or hip circumferences or evaluate their cholesterol levels.

The diet would not apply to non-Asians and was sensitive to cultural norms, appropriate, and practicable in this Chinese community.

However, if the diet is individualized for each person, a similar strategy might be applied in any community. Patients must also follow a somewhat balanced diet and refrain from overindulging on feast days while under the direction of a dietitian to ensure that their food contains all the essential micronutrients, vitamins, and minerals on fasting days. -up (with no fasting days) (with no fasting days).

There is some data supporting the possibility of remission; Yang and colleagues write in their research, "despite a general public perception that [type 2 diabetes] is incurable and necessitates pharmacological treatment intensification.

Another promising study on intermittent fasting brings the question to me: Are fasting diets more compatible with human physiology?

*J Clin Endocrinol Metab. Published online Dec 14, 2022