Intermittent Fasting

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Chinese Medicine Research Hub

Systematic Review

Intermittent fasting may potentially influence autoimmune diseases like type 1 diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis, by reducing inflammation and supporting cellular repair mechanisms.

2023 Autoimmunity Reviews Intermittent fasting: A promising dietary intervention for autoimmune diseases
Barati M, Ghahremani A, Namdar Ahmadabad H

Chinese Medicine Research Hub

Systematic Review

Dietary strategies, such as caloric restriction and ketogenic diets, can alleviate chronic pain and enhance quality of life.

2022 International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health The Effectiveness of Intermittent Fasting, Time Restricted Feeding, Caloric Restriction, a Ketogenic Diet and the Mediterranean Diet as Part of the Treatment Plan to Improve Health and Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain: A Systematic Review
Cuevas-Cervera M, Perez-Montilla J, Gonzalez-Muñoz A, Garcia-Rios M, Navarro-Ledesma S

Chinese Medicine Research Hub

Randomised Controlled Trial

Fasting followed by a plant-based diet positively impacts disease activity and cardiovascular risk factors in rheumatoid arthritis patients.

2022 Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases POS0583 RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS BENEFITS FROM FASTING AND PLANT-BASED DIET: AN EXPLORATORY RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL (NUTRIFAST)
Hartmann AM, Kandil FI, Steckhan N, Häupl T, Kessler CS, Michalsen A, Koppold-Liebscher DA

Chinese Medicine Research Hub

Cohort Study

Intermittent fasting during Ramadan can lead to rapid improvement of rheumatoid arthritis activity, with positive effects lasting up to three months.

2021 Clinical Rheumatology Sustainable positive effects of Ramadan intermittent fasting in rheumatoid arthritis
Ben Nessib D, Maatallah K, Ferjani H, Triki W, Kaffel D, Hamdi W

Chinese Medicine Research Hub

Meta-Analysis

Intermittent fasting and energy-restricted diets may decrease inflammatory markers, especially in overweight and obese individuals, but have no impact on the levels of certain proteins involved in inflammation.

2020 Nutrition Effects of intermittent fasting diets on plasma concentrations of inflammatory biomarkers: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
Wang X, Yang Q, Liao Q, Li M, Zhang P, Santos HO, Kord-Varkaneh H, Abshirini M

Chinese Medicine Research Hub

Cohort Study

Ramadan fasting can induce rapid improvement in rheumatoid arthritis and spondyloarthritis activity without significantly affecting medication compliance or tolerance.

2020 Clinical Rheumatology Impact of Ramadan diurnal intermittent fasting on rheumatic diseases
Ben Nessib D, Maatallah K, Ferjani H, Kaffel D, Hamdi W

Executive Summary

Write an executive summary in the form of a blog article on the topic of "Research into Chinese medicine treatment for Intermittent Fasting" summarising the research below and using language that can be easily understood by patients and avoiding medical jargon using a professional and caring tone of voice.

Write an executive summary in the form of a blog article on the topic of "Researched Chinese medicine treatments for Intermittent Fasting" summarising the research below in an objective and easy to understand way, and using language that can be easily understood by patients. Group the article into Chinese medicine treatments first, followed by nutrition and other treatments. Avoid using medical jargon and use a professional and caring tone of voice.

Write me a concise but easy to understand executive summary on the topic of "Chinese medicine treatments for Intermittent Fasting" based on the following research that I will give you. Your summary should be 2 paragraphs long in Australian English spelling and include references to the studies.

A Systematic Review published in 2023 in the journal Autoimmunity Reviews found that Intermittent fasting may potentially influence autoimmune diseases like type 1 diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis, by reducing inflammation and supporting cellular repair mechanisms. Extensive research was done through several electronic databases such as PubMed, Scopus, Embase, and Web of Science. Rigorous inclusion criteria were applied to filter the most relevant studies on the effects of intermittent fasting on autoimmune diseases. No reference to further research trials was mentioned in the methodology. The results indicate a potential link between intermittent fasting and the management of certain autoimmune diseases. Autoimmune diseases like type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and systemic lupus erythematosus exhibited improvements owing to the reduction in inflammatory markers, improvement in gut microbiota, and enhanced cellular repair resulting from autophagy induced by intermittent fasting. However, results concerning other autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis, systemic lupus erythematosus, thyroid diseases, and psoriasis were inconclusive.

A Systematic Review published in 2022 in the journal International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health found that Dietary strategies, such as caloric restriction and ketogenic diets, can alleviate chronic pain and enhance quality of life. This systematic review selected 16 articles from various databases including PubMed, Web of Sciences, ProQuest, and Scopus that were published within the last 6 years. These consisted of randomized clinical trials (RCTs), observational studies, and systematic reviews evaluating the effectiveness of different dietary strategies in the treatment of chronic pain. A range of assessment scales—PEDro, PVI, QUALSYT and the Quality Assessment Tool of Systematic Reviews scale— were utilized to gauge the risk of bias in these studies. The findings indicate an inconclusive consensus on the impact of an intermittent fasting (IF) diet on pain improvement. However, a caloric restriction diet emerged as a potential long-term treatment option for pain. Additionally, time-restricted food and ketogenic diets showed promising results in improving life quality in chronic conditions. Despite some studies indicating opposite results, the majority of the selected articles exhibited good methodological quality on their respective assessment scales.

A Randomised Controlled Trial published in 2022 in the journal Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases found that Fasting followed by a plant-based diet positively impacts disease activity and cardiovascular risk factors in rheumatoid arthritis patients. In the pilot study, patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were split into two groups: one underwent a 7-day fast (consuming no more than 250 calories per day), followed by 11 weeks of a plant-based diet; the other was provided with conventional nutritional counseling according to the recommendations of the German Society for Nutrition for a total of 12 weeks. Disease activity and treatment responses were evaluated at the beginning of the experiment, day 7, week 6, and week 12. The results showed improvements in disease activity in both the fasting and conventional nutritional counseling groups. Noteworthy was the fact that the fasting group started showing improvements by day 7 as opposed to week 6 in the conventional group. Additionally, cardiovascular risk factors, such as weight and total cholesterol levels, showed more marked improvement in the fasting group compared to the conventional group. These improvements were found to be independent of any antibody status, intervention delivery method, or previous eating habits.

A Cohort Study published in 2021 in the journal Clinical Rheumatology found that Intermittent fasting during Ramadan can lead to rapid improvement of rheumatoid arthritis activity, with positive effects lasting up to three months. In this prospective study, 35 patients with rheumatoid arthritis participated in fasting during Ramadan 2019. Their disease activity was assessed at three different time points: six months prior to the beginning of Ramadan, during the month between the seventh day of fasting and seventh day post Ramadan, and approximately 3.4 months after fasting. The disease activity score 28 was used to evaluate the activity of the disease. A significant decrease in all disease activity parameters was observed from the time six months prior to Ramadan to the time during fasting, followed by a gradual increase of clinical and biological outcomes between the end of fasting and the months following. However, the decrease of specific disease indicators that resulted from the Ramadan fast was maintained until the time point 3.4 months after fasting, despite the increasing trend. Thus, the overall improvements from fasting were found to be sustained for at least 3 months after the end of the Ramadan fasting period.

A Meta-Analysis published in 2020 in the journal Nutrition found that Intermittent fasting and energy-restricted diets may decrease inflammatory markers, especially in overweight and obese individuals, but have no impact on the levels of certain proteins involved in inflammation. The research involved the systematic search of online medical databases such as Web of Sciences, PubMed, SCOPUS, and Google Scholar until June 2019. The aim was to evaluate the effects of Intermittent fasting (IF) and energy-restricted diets (ERDs) on plasma concentrations of inflammatory biomarker. The study included randomised control trials and the effect sizes were evaluated using a weighted mean difference from the random-effects model. Eighteen eligible trials were included in this meta-analysis. The results showed a significant reduction in C-reactive protein concentrations, an inflammatory marker, with IF regimens and ERDs, and this reduction was even more profound in overweight and obese individuals. The treatment also showed better results with a longer duration of intervention of eight weeks or more. However, neither dietary model decreased the concentrations of tumor necrosis factor-α or interleukin-6, which are proteins involved in the inflammation process.

A Cohort Study published in 2020 in the journal Clinical Rheumatology found that Ramadan fasting can induce rapid improvement in rheumatoid arthritis and spondyloarthritis activity without significantly affecting medication compliance or tolerance. In the methodology, this study was a prospective, monocentric one that included patients with either rheumatoid arthritis or spondyloarthritis who partook in Ramadan fasting in 2019. The disease activity and management of chronic medications were assessed and compared in two visits - one six months before Ramadan fasting began and a second one after at least seven days of fasting. In the results, the study found that both rheumatoid arthritis and spondyloarthritis activity, as measured by Disease Activity Scores, decreased after patients fasted during Ramadan. In contrast, compliance with chronic medications and tolerance did not significantly change. These findings suggest fasting can be a potentially effective approach to improving disease activity in patients with rheumatoid diseases. Moreover, these findings provide reassurance to patients who may have fears about medication intake during Ramadan, which could improve adherence to treatment.

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