A lot has been said about the dangers of diets, but some of them can still be beneficial – this was recently proven by scientists from King’s College London. According to their study, intermittent fasting slows down the aging process and improves memory.
Medical scientists from King’s College London have found that intermittent fasting has a positive effect not only on the figure – this type of diet slows down the aging process, and also improves the quality of memory.
British researchers conducted an experiment on three groups of mice, for each of which an individual diet was organized. The first group followed a normal diet. The second group was given low-calorie foods, and the third group was on intermittent fasting.
As a result of the study, scientists were able to determine that in the third group of mice, memory began to improve after three months.
It turned out that intermittent fasting increases the production of new neurons in the hippocampus – one of the most important parts of the human brain, closely associated with memory and emotions. As the body ages, the production of these neurons slows down.
However, earlier American scientists stated that intermittent fasting is an effective way to get rid of hypertension. This is due to the fact that excess weight is reduced, which in most cases is the main cause of hypertensive pathologies.
Intermittent fasting has contraindications, which are important not to forget
Recall that intermittent fasting is a diet in which periods of eating alternate with periods of abstinence. There are different schemes for such a diet, but the most common are 16/8 and 20/4.
In the first case, you can eat food for eight hours, and you need to fast for the next sixteen. During this diet, the body begins to actively burn fat reserves, since it does not need to be distracted by food processing. In this case, you can choose the interval yourself – from twelve in the afternoon to eight in the evening or, for example, from nine in the morning to five in the evening.
Intermittent fasting has contraindications, which are important not to forget. So, such a diet is prohibited for people with gallstone disease, suffering from type XNUMX and type XNUMX diabetes, anorexia, bulimia and other eating disorders.