Alternate day fasting for weight loss in normal weight and overweight subjects: a randomized controlled trial

Should we be doing this for the cardio protection? Will your doctor have any idea what you are talking about when you ask about it? Has your neurologist read any of these? Or are they lazy slobs not reading anything since medical school?
Theres already this research;
1. Calorie Restriction Prevents Neurodegeneration
2. To Stave off Alzheimer’s, Stay Hungry?
3. Researchers: Mini-Fast Prevents Alzheimer's
4.  intermittent fasting—one day on food, the next day off of it—can also protect the brain
And the newest one here;



http://www.nutritionj.com/content/12/1/146

Krista A Varady^*, Surabhi Bhutani, Monica C Klempel, Cynthia M Kroeger, John F Trepanowski, Jacob M Haus, Kristin K Hoddy and Yolian Calvo

• * Corresponding author: Krista A Varady varady@uic.edu

Author Affiliations

Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1919 West Taylor Street, Room 506 F, Chicago, IL 60612, USA

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Nutrition Journal 2013, 12:146  doi:10.1186/1475-2891-12-146

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.nutritionj.com/content/12/1/146

Received:	3 July 2013
Accepted:	4 November 2013
Published:	12 November 2013

© 2013 Varady et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Background

Alternate day fasting (ADF; ad libitum “feed day”, alternated with 25% energy intake “fast day”), is effective for weight loss and cardio-protection in obese individuals. Whether these effects occur in normal weight and overweight individuals remains unknown. This study examined the effect of ADF on body weight and coronary heart disease risk in non-obese subjects.

Methods

Thirty-two subjects (BMI 20–29.9 kg/m²) were randomized to either an ADF group or a control group for 12 weeks.

Results

Body weight decreased (P < 0.001) by 5.2 ± 0.9 kg (6.5 ± 1.0%) in the ADF group, relative to the control group, by week 12. Fat mass was reduced (P < 0.001) by 3.6 ± 0.7 kg, and fat free mass did not change, versus controls. Triacylglycerol concentrations decreased (20 ± 8%, P < 0.05) and LDL particle size increased (4 ± 1 Å, P < 0.01) in the ADF group relative to controls. CRP decreased (13 ± 17%, P < 0.05) in the ADF group relative to controls at week 12. Plasma adiponectin increased (6 ± 10%, P < 0.01) while leptin decreased (40 ± 7%, P < 0.05) in the ADF group versus controls by the end of the study. LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, homocysteine and resistin concentrations remained unchanged after 12 weeks of treatment.

Conclusion

These findings suggest that ADF is effective for weight loss and cardio-protection in normal weight and overweight adults, though further research implementing larger sample sizes is required before solid conclusion can be reached.