By Hina Kiyani
ISLAMABAD: A new study has shown that people who fast regularly are likely to experience less severe complications from COVID-19.
Researchers from Intermountain Healthcare published their study in BMJ Nutrition, Prevention and Health where they said that infected patients who practised water-only intermittent fasting had a lower mortality rate from COVID-19. These patients were also found to have a lower risk of hospitalisation.
“Intermittent fasting has already shown to lower inflammation and improve cardiovascular health,” said Benjamin Horne, PhD, director of cardiovascular and genetic epidemiology at Intermountain Healthcare.
In their study, scientists spotted the patients in a registry at Intermountain Healthcare who had tested positive for the virus between March 2020 and February 2021 i.e. before vaccines were publicly available.
Out of the 205 patients, 73 said they fasted at least once a month. Scrutinising the data, researchers found that those who fasted regularly had a lower risk of hospitalisation and death.
“Intermittent fasting was not associated with whether or not someone tested positive for COVID-19, but it was associated with lower severity once patients had tested positive for it,” Dr Horne said.
Many of these patients fasted for religious reasons, which is why they had been doing it for an average of more than 40 years. For example, almost 62% of Utah’s population usually fasts on the first Sunday of every month.
Dr Horne said that while more research was required to understand why fasting was so beneficial, it could be because of how it impacts the body.
Fasting reduces inflammation including hyper-inflammation caused as a result of COVID-19. Additionally, while we fast, the body starts to use ketones instead of glucose.
Intermittent fasting also encourages autophagy which is a process where the body’s damaged and infected cells are either destroyed or recycled.
However, the study emphasised that fasting was not an alternative to the virus vaccine.
