Can Intermittent Fasting Help Protect Older Adults From Injury?
An intermittent fasting diet could help protect older people from falls and other injuries by building up their muscles, a study has discovered. Intermittent fasting, also known as time-restricted eating, could also be a cost-efficient intervention to prevent type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease, and liver cancer, a team from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in California says. Fasting for a longer period could also better protect against infectious diseases like COVID-19 and even save people from dying of sepsis.
Intermittent fasting is a dietary regimen that’s growing in popularity. The diet holds people to eating between an eight-hour window and could have multiple health benefits besides weight loss. Researchers fed a high-fat, high-sugar diet to mice from two different age groups — equivalent to 20 and 42-year-old humans.
The team ran tests and compared the outcomes of time-restricted eating (TRE) on fatty liver disease, glucose regulation, muscle mass, performance and endurance, and sepsis survival rates. Researchers also worked at night to match the animals’ circadian clocks, working with night vision goggles and specialized lighting.
Excerpted from Study Finds
