First Video in the Series:
In this third and final video of this series on water fasting i’d like to take some time to dispel some of the confusion related to the study results that we saw in the other two videos water fasting leading to really high increases in blood cholesterols long-standing increases in triglycerides and an initial decrease in insulin resistance to just have it shoot
Back up after the fast is over what’s going on here if you’re lost i’d highly recommend going back to the first video in this series so we looked over two studies one looking at a five day water fast and the other looking at a much longer over two week water fast in the first study we saw that total and low density cholesterol particles skyrocketed during the
Five-day water fast but it eventually normalized after the fast was over so what’s going on there i speculated that these individuals might have some form of dyslipidemia meaning they have abnormal processing of in this instance cholesterol either in the overproduction or the under excretion or both i also mentioned it’s possible that’s simply physiological so
An adaptation because cholesterol plays a crucial role in our body i know that in the past cholesterol particles have been demonized but they do serve a function transport within the body is one of those functions your liver produces cholesterol particles to move molecules to and from the liver to and from the peripheral tissues like your kidneys bones and others
Those molecules include fats which speaks to reason that your fats would increase because your body is driving completely into fat metabolism as it reduces its dependence on blood sugar for energy throughout the fasting period yet those were not the same results that we saw in the second study the longer water fasting study in that study we showed reductions in some
Of the same cholesterol markers so why is there no consensus i’d venture to say that it’s because of the shorter fasting study participants were leaner individuals i’m not saying they were workout warriors but they fell under the normal weight category while the longer fasting was done with significantly more overweight individuals so the overweight individuals
Experienced a reduction in cholesterol because their physiological state is different de facto of their weight as for the changes in triglycerides it’s true that the first study the shorter fasting study showed elevated triglycerides from fasting and beyond that even three months later their triglycerides were even higher than ever as they experienced a 25 percent
Elevation in the second study triglycerides did not budge until after their refeed period lasting roughly one week then their triglycerides did increase above what they were before by over 30 percent unfortunately both of these studies show sustained increases into the above normal range or close to it so why is that well let me discuss the insulin resistance
Part first because these two are tied together in terms of insulin resistance from the limited data from the first study on the topic there was no suggestion of overall insulin resistance on the other hand the longer fasting study showed that insulin resistance is reduced during the fasting phase but dramatically increases after refeeding we don’t know how long
The insulin resistance remains based on these studies but i think that the reason why gives a clue for how long it will last if i had to take a guess i’d say that the cells of the body transition to being fat dependent for energy throughout the fast we know that but something people often misunderstand is the fact that with that increased reliance on fat the cells
Become less insulin sensitive i realize that might be a shock to people but our cells adapt they don’t keep every capability running 100 of the time in this scenario when fasting the body taps into fat metabolism so the cells increase their uptake of fats and ketones and simultaneously reduce their insulin signaling because the cells are relying on fats not sugars
However when refeeding there’s a sudden influx of sugars especially in the longer study where they refed the participants with heavy carbohydrate meals which would take the cells a while to switch from a primarily fat based metabolism back to being insulin sensitive to accept this influx of carbohydrates it’s a back and forth test of the metabolic flexibility of
These cells now that might also affect triglyceride levels considering a renewed reliance on blood sugar for energy but i’m currently stumped on why triglycerides would remain elevated not necessarily dangerously so but certainly noticeably for over three months a few days sure but three months is a long time that also raises the question of what effects this has
On the body if a person has renewed blood sugar levels but slightly elevated triglycerides which is never considered a good combination does this mean that coming out of a water fast may require a more strategic landing ultimately at the time of this recording i don’t know my explanations are educated guesses so they may also be off but until we have more water
Fasting studies this is the best that we have although do i walk away from this condemning water fasting no not at all personally i don’t think any of these results lead to any long-term negative effects but until more studies come out we’ll just have to wonder yet if any new answers arrive i will let you know until then bye you
Transcribed from video
Water Fasting WORSENS Insulin Resistance?? [Science Breakdown] By Physionic