Fasting can boost the body’s metabolism and help protect against age-related diseases, a study has found. The circadian clock operates within the body and its organs as intrinsic time-keeping machinery to preserve homeostasis in response to the changing environment. Optimal fasting in a timed manner would be strategic to positively affect cellular functions and ultimately benefiting health and protecting against ageing-associated diseases.
Intermittent fasting can help in improving a person’s blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and insulin sensitivity. It has also been found that longer periods of fasting (two to four days) aids in rebooting the immune system, clearing out old immune cells, and regenerating new ones.
Ever since people have stopped observing weekly fasts, the incidence on high blood pressure, diabetes and heart attack has increased. Scientifically, it is now known that eating carbohydrates everyday increases the chances of heart attack.
Dr Aggarwal, who is the the Group Editor-in-Chief of IJCP, said: “My rough formula of three for fasting is that one cannot live for three minutes without air, three days without water and three weeks without food. However, this formula is for healthy muscular and fatty people. When you fast, you can stay healthy for long if you have good muscles and have good fat content.”