Intermittent Fasting

I found a couple recent papers of interest on intermittent fasting.  The first paper(pdf) appears in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and looks at intermittent fasting and calorie restriction.  It reviews both animal and human studies on the subject, concluding that intermittent fasting may be effective in treating chronic disease.

The second study is quite interesting because it looks at intermittent fasting and asthma.  In the study, subjects consumed 20% of their normal intake on one day, and then ate as much as they wanted on the next day.  They continued this alternate day calorie restriction for 8 weeks.  The authors hypothesized that this eating pattern would reduce oxidative stress and inflammation.  It appears to have worked as important markers of inflammation decreased in the subjects.