Fasting on a Regular Basis Benefits Your Health and your Heart

While a large majority of Utahns and Mormons around the world perform a periodic fast for religious purposes, doctors are now saying it would be a health conscious and heart conscious thing to do as well.

"We've shown it is not a chance finding. Fasting is not just an indicator for other healthy lifestyles. It is actually the fasting that is working to reduce the risk of disease," Dr Benjamin D Horne said Thursday in the Deseret News.

Horne is among more than a dozen doctors with Intermountain Medical Center's Heart Institute who discovered the most recent round of physiological benefits from fasting and are presenting their findings at the American College of Cardiology in New Orleans.

"Fasting causes hunger or stress,. In response, the body releases more cholesterol, allowing it to utilize fat as a source of fuel, instead of glucose. This decreases the number of fat cells in the body," Horne said.

The fewer fat cells a person has, the less likely they are to have elevated cholesterol, insulin resistance, or diabetes, he said.

Doctors found that skipping at least two meals on a regular basis led to a dramatic increase of human growth hormone (HGH), which plays a metabolic role in adults, regulating glucose and insulin within the body, "so you are burning fat cells when you fast." Horne said.

During a 24 hour fasting periods, he said HGH increased to an average of 1,300 percent in women and nearly 2,000 percent in men, as part of the study.

The newest research expands on a 2007 study that revealed an association between fasting and reduced risk of coronary artery disease-the leading cause of death among men and women in America, according to Intermountain Healthcare. IT SHOWS THAT FASTING WAS ALSO FOUND TO REDUCE OTHER CARDIAC RISK FACTORS, SUCH AS TRIGLYCERIDES, WEIGHT AND BLOOD SUGAR LEVELS.

Perhaps fasting on a regular basis could become part of current programs to prevent, control or reduce type two diabetes.