The FastDay Forum

The journalist did the diet for 4 weeks and whilst she lost weight, she has actually ended up unhealthier!
Her IGF-1 levels had climbed (putting her levels at higher risk for cancer), however she was told that this may be her body simply adjusting to the new WOE.
Also, her "good" cholesterol level had dropped and her blood glucose level had gone up!
Found this all a little concerning... Wondering why this might be when MM got healthier?

Haven't read the article but my thoughts are:

• The effect of 5:2 on IGF-I is very uncertain. Dr M did report that his was lowered but that is about the only evidence I think. Longer fasts (proviso proviso health warning etc) do seem to lower IGF-I and maybe dietary change to vegan can too. Jury still out on this one I think.
• If the journalist had her cholesterol test done immediately after a fast then I think one would expect it to be higher, because fasting causes fat burning and as the fat is released into the bloodstream that includes cholesterol (I think) - as a short-term effect. Also I'm not sure you would expect to see much cholesterol-lowering effect after only 4 weeks anyway.

[carorees]

If she ate a high protein diet, IGF1 would not come down. I read a paper saying that in humans calorie restriction is not enough to lower IGF1 without also lowering protein intake. Dominic is right about cholesterol. Finally, immediately following breaking a fast blood sugar may be higher due to low insulin levels during the fast. So her blood results all depend on when the blood was drawn.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/article ... 62/?page=2 shows LDL cholesterol drifting down in most subjects during an 11 hour fasting observation that followed a 12-15h fast (23-26h total fast).

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar ... 9567900066 reports a decline in cholesterol over a 10 day / 500 km march with only 200 cals a day of intake . "The plasma concentration of cholesterol, phospholipids and triglycerides decreased markedly during the study. The decrease in the TG was confined mainly to the very low density lipoproteins. The TG content of this lipoprotein class had decreased about 80 per cent after 3 days. The decrease in the cholesterol and phospholipids was almost entirely due to a decrease in the low-density fraction. The low-density cholesterol had decreased by 50 per cent at the end of the study. The lipid content remained constant in the high-density lipoproteins."

http://pmj.bmj.com/content/61/715/395.short reports "Plasma triglyceride and cholesterol levels were increased by 18% after 6 d of fasting. HDL-cholesterol concentration was not significantly changed for 4 d, but decreased by 22% after 6 d. "

So seems a gamble which way cholesterol will go, and we have to remember that the guidelines and risk calculators are based on large populations of normal eating people.