A recent study revealed that intermittent fasting has a positive effect on reducing cardiovascular disease and diabetes. It also found fasting for 24 hours keeps the cholesterol levels the same which indicates significantly improve markers for metabolic syndrome.
The research has been conducted by the Intermountain Heart Institute. It is published in European Heart Journal. A total of 67 people participated in this study for 6 months. All of them have at least one symptom of metabolic syndrome.
Researchers found that fasting for 24-hour periods reduced insulin resistance. At the same time, it didn’t improve cholesterol levels. Principal investigator of the study Benjamin Horne said, “In finding higher levels of galectin-3 in patients who fasted, these results provide an interesting mechanism potentially involved in helping reduce the risk of heart failure and diabetes.”
Barry also said, “Insulin is essentially the ‘key’ to open the door to let glucose (sugar) into our cells, where glucose is used to produce energy.”
Then he explained, “The pancreas, which makes insulin, will try to make more insulin to get glucose out of the blood and into the cells,” Barry also said. “Eventually, our pancreas can’t keep up the increased insulin production, and blood sugar levels continue to increase.”