Outcomes of a Medically Supervised Fasting Module on Healthy Females in a Controlled Residential Environment: A Brief Report

BACKGROUND: Fasting is being used as a therapeutic and cultural practice for millennia. There are numerous reports available on beneficial effects of fasting on various disease conditions. Despite the mounting evidence on fasting, little is known on its physiological effects in humans as most of the studies on physiological effects are done in animals. METHODS: Twenty healthy female volunteers (mean age ± SD, 21.95 ± 2.52 years) participated in a 10-day fasting program, which has 1 preparatory day and 1 refeeding day (1,000 kcal) and 8 fasting days (500 kcal). All the participants consented to participate in the study. Blood parameters like complete blood count, renal function test, total iron binding capacity, lipid profile, liver profile, vitamins D and B12, thyroid function tests, glycated hemoglobin, and air blood gas test along with anthropometric measurements were taken on the first and last day. RESULTS: All the parameters under the study have shown statistically significant changes (p < 0.05) except hemoglobin (p = 0.7) and non-high density lipoprotein (p = 0.32). Notable changes were the significant increase in vitamins D and B12 levels that signifies the homoeostatic potential of a fasting regimen. CONCLUSION: The result depicts the positive impact of fasting on various physiological parameters that warrants further studies on the safety of fasting in diverse diseases, especially the ones that have metabolic disarray as the root cause. Despite the limitation of the smaller sample size and lack of a control group, the results are encouraging to devise disease-specific fasting programs.