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Abstract
Overfeeding seriously affects human mortality and morbidity and therefore weight loss represents an important tool to improve health and enhance the quality of life. Caloric restriction could ameliorate the health status in both obese and normal weight individuals and is one of the few methods known to prolong life span. The principle of daily caloric restriction is difficult to implement in practice. Intermittent fasting has been intended as a solution that takes advantage of the caloric restriction positive effects, but does not have its side effects. More and more studies support the idea that intermittent fasting and continuous caloric restriction activate the same biological mechanisms. This article is trying to summarize the scientific facts about the intermittent fasting and also the benefits, efficacy, indications and side effects of this dietary regimen.
Key words: intermittent fasting, caloric restriction, weight loss.
Introduction
Intermittent fasting (IF) is an umbrella term used to describe various dietary regimens that cycle between a period of non-fasting and a period (long or short) of total fasting or severe caloric restriction. The protocols of these regimens vary from a 24-hour fasting period, followed by a 24-hour non-fasting period (alternate day fasting - ADF), repeated 2-3 times per week (5:2 or 4:3 diet) to a daily schedule that includes a nocturnal fasting period of 16/18/20 hours and a non-fasting single interval of 8/6/4 hours (this protocol implies the reduction of daily meal frequency). This type of diet not only promotes weight loss, but also has a positive impact on various parameters associated with health status and life span (1).
In this article, we will try to summarize the scientific proves that supports intermittent fasting and also the efficiency, benefits, indications and side effects of this dietary regimen.
Benefits of intermittent fasting versus continuous caloric restriction
Since overfeeding seriously affects human morbidity and mortality, body weight reduction represents an important tool for improving the health status of population. Caloric restriction (CR), by promoting weight loss, represents a dietary method that has numerous positive effects in obese individuals (2). But caloric restriction could also improve the health status of normal weight people (3) being one of the few methods known to prolong life span (4-6). The reduction of caloric intake to 60-70% of...