Intermittent fasting: Intermittent fasting (IF) is one of the best methods for losing weight, according to several dietitians. This way of living, forces one to eat at a specific window of time and then fast for between 12 and 16 hours each day.
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Negative effect on woman’s reproductive hormones
Even though its advantages have long been documented, a recent study found that intermittent fasting may have a negative effect on a woman’s reproductive hormones. While researching obesity, a team at the University of Illinois at Chicago stumbled onto fresh data regarding IF in females.
The researchers evaluated a sample of pre- and post-menopausal obese women for eight weeks as they followed the “warrior diet” strategy of intermittent fasting, under the direction of Krista Varady, professor of nutrition at UIC. Their research has been presented in the Wiley Online Library publication.
One can only eat for four hours a day using the warrior diet technique of IF. The participants in this window were free to eat whatever they pleased before returning to their water fast.
By comparing participants who followed IF to those who didn’t, the researchers were able to measure the variations in hormone levels. After eight weeks, Krista Varady and her team noticed that the participants’ levels of sex-binding globulin hormone, a protein that transports reproductive hormones throughout the body, were stable. This held true for other hormones like testosterone and oestrogen as well.
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Dehydroepiandrosterone or DHEA hormone
Dehydroepiandrosterone, or DHEA, is a hormone that fertility doctors give to enhance ovarian function and egg quality, but by the conclusion of the research, it was significantly lower in both pre and postmenopausal women. It fell by almost 14%.
Varady said, “This suggests that in pre-menopausal women, the minor drop in DHEA levels has to be weighed against the proven fertility benefits of lower body mass. The drop in DHEA levels in post-menopausal women could be concerning because menopause already causes a dramatic drop in estrogen, and DHEA is a primary component of estrogen. However, a survey of the participants reported no negative side effects associated with low estrogen post-menopause, such as sexual dysfunction or skin changes.”
Women who followed the IF “warrior diet” lost between 3% and 4% of their starting weight during the experiment. Varady came to the conclusion that more studies on intermittent fasting and other fasting techniques should be conducted, particularly in light of the fact that studies on mice and rats have yielded poor results about IF.
She added, “I think this is a great first step. We’ve observed thousands of pre and post-menopausal women through different alternate-day fasting and time-restricted eating strategies. All it’s doing is making people eat less. By shortening that eating window, you’re just naturally cutting calories. We need more studies to look at the effects of intermittent fasting on humans.”
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