Intermittent fasting has already been shown to have many health benefits, including reducing the risk of diabetes and heart disease. People who fast regularly are also less likely to suffer serious complications from COVID-19, reveals this team from Intermountain Healthcare, with a lower risk of hospitalization and death.
“Intermittent fasting has already been shown to reduce inflammation and improve cardiovascular health.
In this study, we see additional benefits when it comes to fighting COVID-19 infection especially in patients who have been fasting for decades.”summarizes the lead author, Dr. Benjamin Horne, director of cardiovascular epidemiology and genetics at Intermountain Healthcare.
The study analyzed diet data from participants enrolled in the INSPIRE registry, from Intermountain Healthcare, who also tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 between March 2020 and February 2021 before vaccines became available. Among the 205 patients who tested positive, 73 reported fasting regularly at least once a month. Finally, in this study, participants who said they fasted regularly had been practicing intermittent fasting for an average of 40 years. Intermountain researchers had the opportunity to study this specific cohort of long-time intermittent fasting people closely, as a large portion of its patients fast regularly for religious reasons. The analysis reveals that:
- intermittent fasting is not associated with reduced COVID-19 infection rate;
- but regular fasting is associated with a greatly reduced rate of hospitalization or death;
- and, overall, to a lower severity of COVID-19 disease.
Certainly, more research is needed to understand why intermittent fasting is associated with better COVID-19 outcomes, however the authors hypothesize a combination of several factors:
- fasting reduces inflammation and hyper-inflammation is now known to be associated with poor COVID-19 disease outcomes;
- after 12 to 14 hours of fasting, the body switches from using glucose in the blood to ketones, including linoleic acid, but there is a pocket on the surface of SARS-CoV-2 in which linoleic acid fits in. By reducing blood ketone levels, fasting could reduce the ability of the virus to attach to host cells;
- Finally, intermittent fasting promotes autophagy, the body’s ability to destroy damaged and infected cells.
The researchers point out that despite the multiple benefits of intermittent fasting, this type of diet should not be initiated without first consulting your doctor. Finally, intermittent fasting should not be considered a substitute for vaccination!