Can skipping food and water all day help reduce body inflammation?
Dawn-to-dusk dry fasting decreases circulating inflammatory cytokines in subjects with increased body mass index
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Weight loss didn’t correlate with inflammation reduction
Everyone assumes fat loss = less inflammation. But here, BMI dropped only slightly (32 → lower), yet inflammation fell sharply—meaning the fast worked through other mechanisms like autophagy or circadian reset.
Practical Takeaways
Try a 30-day dawn-to-dusk dry fast during a low-stress period (e.g., Ramadan) to potentially reduce inflammation and belly fat.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Weight loss didn’t correlate with inflammation reduction
Everyone assumes fat loss = less inflammation. But here, BMI dropped only slightly (32 → lower), yet inflammation fell sharply—meaning the fast worked through other mechanisms like autophagy or circadian reset.
Practical Takeaways
Try a 30-day dawn-to-dusk dry fast during a low-stress period (e.g., Ramadan) to potentially reduce inflammation and belly fat.
Publication
Journal
Metabolism Open
Year
2024
Authors
Zahraa Al lami, M. Kurtca, M. Atique, A. Opekun, Mohamad Siam, P. Jalal, Bijan Najafi, Sridevi Devaraj, Ayse L. Mindikoglu
Related Content
Claims (6)
Periodic fasting is associated with lower levels of inflammation in the body, which may occur because eating less frequently reduces exposure to food-derived antigens and activates cellular cleanup and anti-inflammatory processes.
In obese adults, losing belly fat during a daily fasting period from dawn to dusk is associated with lower levels of several proteins in the blood that are linked to inflammation.
In obese adults, following a 30-day fasting period from dawn to dusk was linked to lower levels of several inflammatory proteins in the blood, and some of these reductions remained detectable two weeks after the fast ended.
In obese adults, fasting from dawn to dusk is linked to a lower resting heart rate during the fast, and this change is related to lower levels of a specific inflammatory marker called interleukin-8.
In obese adults, fasting from dawn to dusk is linked to weight loss and lower BMI, but these changes do not consistently align with changes in inflammation markers, meaning inflammation may change without being tied to weight loss.