How a 7-day water fast leads to massive weight loss
Groundbreaking research has uncovered what happens to the human body as it undergoes a seven-day water fast.
The study, published Friday in the Nature Metabolism journal, unsurprisingly uncovered that volunteers shed a substantial amount of weight while being deprived of food.
However, there were also other significant changes to the body — and not all of them were detrimental.
Researchers determined that the fast triggered volunteers to experience whole-body protein level changes that made some organs operate more effectively, including the supportive structure for neurons in the brain
“For the first time, we’re able to see what’s happening on a molecular level across the body when we fast,” study author Claudia Langenberg, the director of Queen Mary’s Precision Health University Research Institute, said in a statement.
“Our results provide evidence for the health benefits of fasting beyond weight loss, but these were only visible after three days of total caloric restriction – later than we previously thought,” she added.
The researchers, from Queen Mary University of London’s Precision Healthcare University Research Institute and the Norwegian School of Sports Sciences, analyzed 12 volunteers during a week-long water fast. They were monitored daily for protein level changes to identify how the body responds to calorie restriction.
It has been established that, when fasting, the body switches where energy is sourced from, where it once relied on caloric intake, it would use its own fat stores as fuel instead, which occurred in the latest study.
Within the first 72 hours of the experiment, participants’ bodies used fat stores as energy and, therefore, lost about 12.5 pounds on average of both fat and lean mass. While the lost lean mass was restored after the first three days of eating post-fast, the fat mass was not.
“Fasting, when done safely, is an effective weight loss intervention,” Langenberg claimed.
The team also found that protein levels changed in various organs throughout the body, specifically changes in the proteins in the neuron structures in the brain.
“Our findings have provided a basis for some age-old knowledge as to why fasting is used for certain conditions,” study author Maik Pietzner, the health data chair of PHURI and co-lead of the Computational Medicine Group at Berlin Institute of Health at Charité, said in a statement.
However, he warned that fasting might not be a viable option for people in “ill health.”
He added: “We hope that these findings can provide information about why fasting is beneficial in certain cases, which can then be used to develop treatments that patients are able to do.”
Diets that integrate fasting, like celeb-touted intermittent fasting, have previously been linked to other beneficial health outcomes beyond weight loss, such as reducing the signs of Alzheimer’s and aging.
But recent studies have associated intermittent fasting with a higher risk of death, Type 2 diabetes and fertility issues — so don’t undertake one without seeking advice from your doctor.
According to Healthline, water fasting could lower blood pressure, prevent disease and promote autophagy, how cells are recycled.
However, the diet method could cause loss of muscle mass, exacerbate medical conditions and result in dehydration because of the lack of hydration from food, and those who water fasting should not do so longer than 24 to 72 hours without medical supervision.
