The 5:2 Diet Could Help Make Your Body More 'Resilient To Stress', Study Reveals
The 5:2 Diet Could Help Make Your Body 'Resilient To Stress'
Natasha Hinde— The Huffington Post UK
A new study has found that the ever popular 5:2 diet could actually help make your body more resilient to stress.
The diet, which has been endorsed by the likes of Miranda Kerr and Hugh Jackman, involves eating normally for five days a week and then fasting for two days of the week
It has also previously been linked with increasing life expectancy, reducing the risk of heart disease, stroke and cancer, as well as improving cholesterol levels.
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Researchers from the University of Florida set out to discover if fasting causes cells to become more resilient to damage in the absence of weight loss.
They did this by testing the effects of fasting on 24 healthy individuals.
Participants took part in two three-week treatment periods of intermittent fasting and intermittent fasting with antioxidant (Vitamins C and E) supplementation.
During this time, researchers detected a "marginal increase (2.7%) in SIRT3 expression due to the intermittent fasting diet".
Michael Guo, a co-author of the study and student at Harvard Medical School explained: “We found that intermittent fasting caused a slight increase to SIRT 3, a well-known gene that promotes longevity and is involved in protective cell responses.”
Through fasting every other day, the study revealed that the cells in the body make more copies of the SIRT3 gene, which in turn helps to prevent free radical production and improve cellular repair processes.
Another interesting finding from the study, which was published in the journal Rejuvenation Research, is that there was a significant decrease in levels of circulating insulin.
Scientists reveal that is important because when we become less sensitive to insulin, we are at risk for diabetes.
Additionally, with those who fasted while taking daily supplements of Vitamin C and E, the benefits usually associated with fasting disappeared completely.
Douglas Bennion and Martin Wegman, who are both MD-PhD students at University of Florida as well as co-authors of the study, believe that this is because "the cells were relatively sheltered from experiencing any oxidative stress that may have been caused by fasting every other day".
The cells didn’t respond by increasing their natural defenses and improving their sensitivity to insulin and other stress signals, which suggests that low levels of environmental stress from things like fasting could be good for the body.
Another interesting point they made is that antioxidant supplements could actually prevent the body's normal healthy cellular responses.
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Celebrity Diets to Avoid in 2015
Urine Therapy(01 of05)
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Celebrity Link: Bear Grylls has reportedly drunk his own urine (for his TV show).What's it all about? Urine Therapy, or urotherapy, includes the drinking of one's own urine for cosmetic or medical/wellbeing purposes. Some claim that the urea component of urine can have an anti-cancer effect.BDA Verdict: Literally, don't take the proverbial! Emergencies, only as Urine Therapy has no scientific evidence that it adds anything beneficial to the body and its safety has not been established. As for any anti-cancer claims made in favour of Urine Therapy, this is simply not backed up by scientific studies. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Paleo Diet(02 of05)
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Celebrity Link: Miley Cyrus and Matthew McConaughey have reportedly followed this 'diet'What's it all about? The Paleo diet (also known as the Paleolithic Diet, the Caveman diet and the Stone Age Diet) is a diet where only foods presumed to be available to Neanderthals in the prehistoric era are consumed and all other foods, such as dairy products, grains, sugar, legumes, 'processed' oils, salt, and others like alcohol or coffee are excluded.BDA Verdict: Jurassic fad! A diet with fewer processed foods, less sugar and salt is actually a good idea, but unless for medical reason, there is absolutely no need to cut any food group out of your diet. In fact, by cutting out dairy completely from the diet, without very careful substitution, you could be in danger of compromising your bone health because of a lack of calcium. An unbalanced, time consuming, socially isolating diet, which this could easily be, is a sure-fire way to develop nutrient deficiencies, which can compromise health and your relationship with food. (credit:Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
Sugar Free Diet(03 of05)
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Celebrity Link: Tom Hanks and Alec Baldwin have reportedly followed this 'diet'.What's it all about? The Sugar Free Diet is when you exclude all types of sugar (and often all carbohydrates too) from your diet.BDA Verdict: Not a total sweetener for success! We encourage cutting down on free sugars, adding sugar or products already containing added sugar, in addition to being label aware, because as a nation, we consume too much sugar on the whole. Some versions of the Sugar Free Diet call for you to cut out all sugar from your diet which is not only almost impossible, but would mean cutting out foods like vegetables, fruit, dairy products, nuts – not exactly a healthy, balanced diet. Also beware, substitutes some of these plans recommend like agave, palm sugar or honey, are actually just sugar in another form and a huge contradiction. (credit:Greg Allen/AP)
VB6 Diet(04 of05)
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Celebrity Link: Beyoncé and Dita Van Teeese have reportedly followed this 'diet'.What's it all about? The VB6 Diet (vegan before 6pm) of Chegan Diet (cheating vegan) is a diet that calls on you to follow a vegan eating plan most of the time/before 6pm, then after 6pm, nothing is off limits.DA Verdict: VB careful! By virtue, this should set you on course to eating during the day, at least, less processed food, more plant based foods like beans, pulses, wholegrains and nuts (watch your portion sizes) and much more fruit and vegetables which is a good thing overall as we should be aiming for at least 5 portion of fruit and veg a day and more fibre. Having said that, following a vegan diet doesn't automatically translate into a healthy diet. The danger here is, post-6pm becomes a window of opportunity to hoover up a myriad of foods high in calories, saturated fat and packed with added salt and sugar, undoing your earlier healthier choices. The reality is, eating different food groups at different times of the day doesn't matter, in terms of your health, its nutritional balance that's important. (credit:Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
The Clay Cleanse Diet(05 of05)
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Celebrity Link: Zoe Kravitz has reportedly followed this 'diet'.What's it all about? A spoon of clay a day will remove toxins from the body and remove negative isotopes, helping you detox and stay in shape.BDA Verdict: Clay away from this diet! The Food Standards Agency issued a warning about clay after high levels of lead and arsenic were discovered in products saying: 'We remind consumers, especially pregnant women, about the dangers of ingesting clay, clay-based detox drinks and supplements'. The whole idea of detox is nonsense. The body is a well-developed system that has its own built-in mechanisms to detoxify and remove waste and toxins. Nuff said! (credit:Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
But before you hail the 5:2 diet as a stress-busting miracle, it's worth taking note of the risks. Speaking to BBC Good Food, nutritional therapist Kerry Torrens reveals that pregnant and breast-feeding women, as well as diabetics on medication, should seek medical advice before trying the diet.
"Furthermore, this sort of diet can be unsafe for teenagers and children who are likely to miss out on crucial nutrients needed for growth and may be at risk of developing unhealthy eating habits," she says.
The diet can be especially tough at the beginning, with some people reporting low energy levels, poor concentration, headaches and dizziness on fasting days.
Torren's advice is that if you do choose to follow the diet then make sure that your non-fast days are "packed with nutritious options, including fruit, veg, wholegrains and lean protein such as chicken, fish, turkey and dairy foods".