It has been just reported the fact that intermittent fasting could change the human brain. Check out more details about this and how it can be done below.
Intermittent fasting and its effects
Scientists have made an important discovery in the ongoing effort to tackle our obesity crisis. Intermittent fasting has been found to cause significant changes in both the gut and the brain, which could offer new options for maintaining a healthy weight.
Researchers from China conducted a study with 25 obese volunteers over a 62-day period.
The volunteers participated in an intermittent energy restriction (IER) program, which involves carefully controlling calorie intake and fasting on some days.
The study found that participants in the program lost weight, an average of 7.6 kilograms (16.8 pounds) or 7.8 percent of their body weight.
Additionally, there was evidence of changes in the activity of obesity-related regions of the brain and in the composition of gut bacteria.
“Here we show that an IER diet changes the human brain-gut-microbiome axis,” says health researcher Qiang Zeng from the Second Medical Center and National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Diseases in China.
“The observed changes in the gut microbiome and in the activity in addiction-related brain regions during and after weight loss are highly dynamic and coupled over time.”
It is currently uncertain what triggers changes in the gut that affect the brain or vice versa.
However, it is a known fact that the gut and the brain are closely linked.
Treating certain brain regions could be a way to regulate food intake. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans have detected changes in brain activity in regions that are important in the regulation of appetite and addiction, such as the inferior frontal orbital gyrus.
Additionally, the gut microbiome changes, which were analyzed through stool samples and blood measurements, were associated with specific brain regions.
For instance, the bacteria Coprococcus comes and Eubacterium hallii were found to have a negative correlation with activity in the left inferior frontal orbital gyrus, an area that influences executive function, including our willpower when it comes to food intake.
“The gut microbiome is thought to communicate with the brain in a complex, two-directional way,” says medical scientist Xiaoning Wang from the State Clinic Center for Geriatrics in China.
“The microbiome produces neurotransmitters and neurotoxins which access the brain through nerves and the blood circulation. In return the brain controls eating behavior, while nutrients from our diet change the composition of the gut microbiome.”
