Posted on 02/25/2023 3:55:11 PM PST by ConservativeMind
Fasting may be detrimental to fighting off infection, and could lead to an increased risk of heart disease, according to a study.
Researchers aimed to better understand how fasting—from only a few hours to a more severe 24 hours—affects the immune system. They analyzed two groups of mice. One group ate breakfast right after waking up and the other group had no breakfast. Researchers collected blood samples in both groups when mice woke up (baseline), then four hours later, and eight hours later.
When examining the blood work, researchers noticed a distinct difference in the fasting group. Specifically, the researchers saw a difference in the number of monocytes, which are white blood cells that are made in the bone marrow and travel through the body, where they play many critical roles, from fighting infections, to heart disease, to cancer.
At baseline, all mice had the same amount of monocytes. But after four hours, monocytes in mice from the fasting group were dramatically affected. Researchers found 90% of these cells disappeared from the bloodstream, and the number further declined at eight hours. Meanwhile monocytes in the non-fasting group were unaffected.
In fasting mice, researchers discovered the monocytes traveled back to the bone marrow to hibernate. Concurrently, production of new cells in the bone marrow diminished. The monocytes in the bone marrow—which typically have a short lifespan—significantly changed. They survived longer as a consequence of staying in the bone marrow, and aged differently than the monocytes that stayed in the blood.
The researchers continued to fast mice for up to 24 hours, and then reintroduced food. The cells hiding in the bone marrow surged back into the bloodstream within a few hours. This surge led to heightened level of inflammation. Instead of protecting against infection, these altered monocytes were more inflammatory.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
LOL! It seems it was just a few days ago that there was an article in the WSJ recommending we skip breakfast in order to save money and fight inflation.
Oh, why yes, it was just a few days ago!
I’m beginning to think the “powers that be” want us all to die.
I rarely have breakfast
For years when I was in the military, my breakfast was coffee until lunch. After ten years of that, I developed an ulcer, which cured me of the no breakfast routine.
From a better article:
“Filip Swirski at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York and his colleagues analysed blood and tissues samples from five mice without access to food for 24 hours. Blood tests comparing these mice with those given a regular diet showed that, on average, the fasting mice had less than 10 per cent of the number of monocytes – a type of white blood cell that helps fight infections and recruits other immune cells to treat injury....
To understand how this affected immunity, he and his team injected 45 mice with a strain of bacteria that infects the lungs. Twenty-three of the mice fasted for 24 hours before the injection. The researchers then allowed them to access food.
After 72 hours, nearly 90 per cent of the mice that fasted died, while about 60 per cent of the mice that never fasted died. The mice on restricted diets also had greater levels of inflammation, suggesting that long periods of fasting impair immune responses.
However, Satchidananda Panda at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in California says that most common fasting regimens for humans don’t last 24 hours. In fact, his own research has shown that a 15-hour fast improves immunity in mice.
Even so, Swirski says these findings are important for how we think about the duration and implications of fasting. “Like so many things in life, balance is important. So, what may be beneficial in one way could have an unanticipated negative impact in another,” he says.”
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2360963-fasting-for-24-hours-could-weaken-the-immune-system/
In THESE MICE, “breakfast” is the largest meal of the day. We are not mice.
Also, notice the design: They had mice fast for 24 hours and THEN gave them an injection of bacteria. This could suggest being exposed to an infection IMMEDIATELY AFTER a longish fast is harmful, but it doesn’t mean on average fasting won’t improve your chances.
Perhaps more important: Almost no one tries to do a long fast when sick. However, many of us DO fast when sick because WE CAN’T KEEP FOOD DOWN. That sucks, but such is life.
I never eat breakfast. I drink coffee freely. Never had an ulcer. But I’m not a big worrier either.
Even in the field, the mess kitchens had a great breakfast.
That was the meal I tried not to miss.
For the last 10 years I’ve been reading about all the benefits of intermittent dieting.
Hopefully this negative news just applies to being sick. Otherwise throw out a decade if research because of 1 new article based on a study of mice?
In addition to something warm to eat to fill the belly, I find that a hot shower, a glass or two of water, a suitable medication if needed, and a full night’s rest can go a long way in shaking a cold or flu.
Hear, hear! :-)
They acknowledge fasting has benefits, but not during infection.
I can count on one hand the number of breakfasts I’ve had in the last 8 years. I eat one meal a day, whenever it is that I feel hungry enough
Although breakfast for supper is a pretty regular thing
For me i have found not eating works better, especially if I don’t feel hungry. Push liquids and broth. The body takes the energy and blood eeded for digestion and uses it to healing and repair and eliminating waste products fighting the illness.
These types of studies are insane. My grandmother, who died at 94 smoked lucky strikes daily and drank her ass off.
Your life expectancy is based on your genetics, nothing else.
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