Unbelievable: Does intermittent fasting affect hormones?
I have to rant again…
Recently read: “Intermittent fasting isn’t just changing your weight: Expert warns it may also be affecting your hormones”
What a triumph of science journalism. <sarcasm/>
My take:
“Calling someone doesn’t just mean you can talk to them. Experts warn it may also drain your battery”
“Driving somewhere not only changes your location. Experts warn you it may also be affecting your fuel level”
Exactly! So what?
A warning about hormonal effects - when body weight is regulated hormonally. Great experts they found there…
The phrase turned up in several outlets with identical or near-identical wording. Exactly like an uncritical reprint of a press release. Some of those links have since disappeared - but while writing this, the article was still up at the Times of India, right next to another piece where the same quoted source describes how fasting affects insulin, stress hormones, and - due to hormones - the female body differently from the male.
If you’d like to explore the “warning” yourself: the most powerful hormone - the key to burning or storing fat - Pancreatic hormone that signals cells to absorb glucose from the blood. Central regulatory hormone of energy metabolism. is right there in the simulator to try out. For now insulin is unfortunately the only hormone modelled - but in this context, and for entertainment, I’ll mention the hunger hormone A hormone that causes appetit and has a couple of other functions on top. → more and the “fullness” hormone Leptin, which apparently also come with a warning: fasting (not eating) almost certainly affects those too. You have been warned!
Important insight:
Fasting definitely affects your hormones. So does eating!
