More than $1.7 billion has been spent in the last decade on scientific research to ensure that the function of the gut and its trillions of microorganisms called the microbiome goes beyond just digesting and absorbing food.
It is the main seat of our immune system, and it is closely related to the endocrine glands, from which our enteric nervous system is formed, which is called the “second brain,” according to the American newspaper “Newsweek”.
It is the brain that influences our emotions and our cognition through signals between the main brain and the abdomen, which take the form of a two-way street;
Through them, the brain communicates with the abdomen chemically and neurally, and the abdomen sends information to the brain, through one of the 12 most important nerves in the body, the vagus (or vagus) nerve.
If the abdomen is calm and healthy, it sends a clear signal to the brain about this, but if there is an imbalance between the composition of the microbiome or if we eat something that made our intestines not well, the message changes in these cases, and the gut transmits to the brain a feeling of anxiety and discomfort. .
So, research points to preliminary links between the “gut microbiome” and cardiovascular disease and diabetes, and there is evidence that “fasting has helped regulate mood, prevent heart disease, diabetes, high cholesterol and blood pressure.”
It is necessary information to understand what fasting does to the stomach, or "second brain".
A scientist explores the mysteries of the gut-brain connection: https://t.co/e0Cbg0BCk9 pic.twitter.com/FVQTYGKCVL
— TED Talks (@TEDTalks) January 13, 2018
Fasting treats anxiety and stress without medication
Fasting, in the scientific sense, is the voluntary abstinence from eating;
It is "important to rejuvenate, cleanse and strengthen the body, and treat many diseases."
In addition to other benefits, including giving the digestive system a rest, even once in a while, or one month a year, “after exhausting it with work for a long time, it drains more energy needed for recovery and general maintenance of the body”;
According to Rachel, certified nutritionist, the Chicago Tribune.
Hind explained that fasting allows the body's enzyme system to focus on removing toxins, by dismantling and distributing them throughout the body during fasting, which leads to the reduction of anxiety and stress quickly, efficiently and without medication, instead of busy digesting heavy food, (removing toxins from the body at once. It can cause serious health problems, doing more harm than good.)
So “when we are sick our appetite decreases, and even animals when they are sick, they lie down, and often do not eat or drink,” says Rachel Hind.
She added that fasting is a decision to give your digestive system a period of rest, and a message to your body that you are making a new beginning;
And an ideal way to get rid of the old, and introduce new healthy habits and foods, "gives you the go to purify your body, and transform your life in a positive direction, making the body's energy go toward achieving healing rather than harnessing it completely to digest food."
The importance of the length of the fasting period
There is a change in our gut when we fast. Studies so far suggest that “the delicate balance in the composition of our gut can change in response to what we eat and when we eat it,” through signals to our brain, circadian rhythms, exercise regimes, and genes;
Although this is happening "in ways that are not yet fully understood".
In a study published in 2020, researchers found that mice that fasted for 16 or 20 hours “achieved an increase in types of beneficial bacteria, compared to a decrease in another type that plays different roles in the body, but is linked to some diseases and infections.”
After the fasting period, this effect on the microbes stopped.
And that’s when a 2021 review of fasting and the microbiome noted that “changes in the gut microbiome resist temporary modification in diet, requiring longer fasting, to see a lasting effect on the bacteria in our gut, and to get whatever health benefit they could.” come from this effect."
Fasting controls abdominal pressure
The most compelling evidence points to the benefits of fasting and the microbiome in affecting blood pressure and reducing the risk of stroke and heart attack.
In a study published in 2021, researchers experimented with intermittent fasting on stroke-prone mice with high blood pressure, and mice that fasted showed a decrease in blood pressure, by comparing them with similar mice that can eat whenever they want, and others that feed every day.
This is in contrast to a human trial in the same year, in which scientists examined how fasting for 5 days affected participants who started following a Mediterranean diet.
They found that "the participants' gut microbiota underwent significant changes, and their blood pressure decreased even after 3 months of changing the diet", and the participants even reduced their intake of high blood pressure medications.
The study team said they believed "these changes were affected by the fasting, not just the diet they started."
Fasting and exercise
Also, there is a connection between fasting and changes in the microbiome and metabolism. “Microbes shed away from the gut lining during fasting,” Dr. Emeran Mayer, professor of physiology and psychiatry at UCSD's David Geffen School of Medicine, tells us;
This is based on what studies have observed of changes in the microbiome of fasting mice, “leading to an increase in healthy brown fat and a decrease in obesity”;
Referring to the "metabolism-associated fasting" of which the lining network of neurons consists of 100 million neurons.
This was also demonstrated by a small study of some obese human patients, whose food time restriction led to a slight loss of body weight, despite limited changes in the gut microbiome.
So, Meyer recommends to his patients two key things to treat metabolic syndrome - even before all the conclusive human studies came out -: "Exercise and fasting."