Medically Supervised Water-only Fasting In The Treatment Of Hypertension

[Westside PUFAs]

"BACKGROUND: Hypertension-related diseases are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in industrially developed societies. Although antihypertensive drugs are extensively used, dietary and lifestyle modifications also are effective in the treatment of patients with hypertension. One such lifestyle intervention is the use of medically supervised, water-only fasting as a safe and effective means of normalizing blood pressure and initiating health-promoting behavioral changes.

METHODS: One hundred seventy-four consecutive hypertensive patients with blood pressure in excess of 140 mm Hg systolic, 90 mm Hg diastolic (140/90 mm Hg), or both were treated in an inpatient setting under medical supervision. The treatment program consisted of a short prefasting period (approximately 2 to 3 days on average) during which food consumption was limited to fruits and vegetables, followed by medically supervised water-only fasting (approximately 10 to 11 days on average) and a refeeding period (approximately 6 to 7 days on average) introducing a low-fat, low-sodium, vegan diet.

RESULTS: Almost 90% of the subjects achieved blood pressure less than 140/90 mm Hg by the end of the treatment program. The average reduction in blood pressure was 37/13 mm Hg, with the greatest decrease being observed for subjects with the most severe hypertension. Patients with stage 3 hypertension (those with systolic blood pressure greater than 180 mg Hg, diastolic blood pressure greater than 110 mg Hg, or both) had an average reduction of 60/17 mm Hg at the conclusion of treatment. All of the subjects who were taking antihypertensive medication at entry (6.3% of the total sample) successfully discontinued the use of medication.

CONCLUSION: Medically supervised water-only fasting appears to be a safe and effective means of normalizing blood pressure and may assist in motivating health-promoting diet and lifestyle changes."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11416824

 

[michael94]

Nice one, but wouldn't a PSMF be better in every way to a simple water fast? Assuming good protein sources were used.

 

[Westside PUFAs]

post 113520 Nice one, but wouldn't a PSMF be better in every way to a simple water fast? Assuming good protein sources were used.

PSMF are not really fasts. Just like juice fasting is not really fasting. Just like intermittent fasting is not really fasting. True fasting is water-only fasting. It takes about 2-3 days to go into real ketosis, where your liver is converting your fat stores into ketone bodies. Ketone bodies are water-soluble molecules that are produced by the liver from fatty acids during periods of fasting for cells of the body to use as energy instead of glucose. Two of the three are used as a source of energy in the heart and brain while the third (acetone) is a degradation breakdown product of acetoacetic acid.

We do lose some protein for the first day or so when water fasting. But we then turn to fatty acids instead of protein, so long as we do not become very active. If we stay relaxing, we will not burn protein. This is the natural adaptation humans have, unlike many other animals. Even a skinny male can go about 70 days with just water and little body fat stores. It is truly amazing that the human can survive that long with no food. We have this adaptation to burn fat instead of protein because if we didn't we'd be dead in a day.

The only thing the authors do when someone may be low in electrolytes is give them a special liquid vegetable broth that has minerals but this does not take them out of ketosis. Even very small amounts of sugar can take someone out of ketosis.

Water only fasting allows the digestive system to have a rest and lets the body use that free energy for other purposes. When water-only fasting, a person typically burns through one whole pound of fat per day.

The only exception to this process is an MCAD deficiency: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=8493

 

[michael94]

post 113524

post 113520 Nice one, but wouldn't a PSMF be better in every way to a simple water fast? Assuming good protein sources were used.

PSMF are not really fasts. Just like juice fasting is not really fasting. Just like intermittent fasting is not really fasting. True fasting is water-only fasting. It takes about 2-3 days to go into real ketosis, where your liver is converting your fat stores into ketone bodies. Ketone bodies are water-soluble molecules that are produced by the liver from fatty acids during periods of fasting for cells of the body to use as energy instead of glucose. Two of the three are used as a source of energy in the heart and brain while the third (acetone) is a degradation breakdown product of acetoacetic acid.

We do lose some protein for the first day or so when water fasting. But we then turn to fatty acids instead of protein, so long as we do not become very active. If we stay relaxing, we will not burn protein. This is the natural adaptation humans have, unlike many other animals. Even a skinny male can go about 70 days with just water and little body fat stores. It is truly amazing that the human can survive that long with no food. We have this adaptation to burn fat instead of protein because if we didn't we'd be dead in a day.

The only thing the authors do when someone may be low in electrolytes is give them a special liquid vegetable broth that has minerals but this does not take them out of ketosis. Even very small amounts of sugar can take someone out of ketosis.

Water only fasting allows the digestive system to have a rest and lets the body use that free energy for other purposes. When water-only fasting, a person typically burns through one whole pound of fat per day.

The only exception to this process is an MCAD deficiency: https://www.raypeatforum.com/forum/view ... =11&t=8493

It is a fast and not comparable at all to juice "fasting" or intermittently loading yourself with carbs. Protein is not what inhibits switching over to fatty acids for fuel, liver and muscle glycogen is. There is literally no drawback and only benefits to having decent protein intake if one does decide to fast ( assuming protein is a good source ). The obese can get away with lower protein intake vs normal and lean folk, but even they will often gain muscle if taking protein as part of their fast *1. There is still a need for amino acids in your body whether you are in ketosis or not *2.

*1
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7350293

Sixteen obese patients 9 to 16 years of age were treated with a protein-sparing modified fast for four weeks in a metabolic unit, using lean meat as the sole calorie-containing nutrient. Total weight loss was 7.11 +/- 0.33 kg (mean +/- SEM). One-half of the patients achieved positive daily nitrogen balance by the fourth week.

*2
http://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/co ... l.pdf+html

Nitrogen balance was obtained
when at least 1.3 gm. protein per kilogram IBW were
provided daily to the CRC patients.

And a large sample size of efficacy

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1646394/

 

[Westside PUFAs]

Thanks, I'll check those out. I do think PSMF is odd though. To look at it from a wild human point of view, If you were in the wild and had no edible plants and just ate protein from only wild game, you would still be ingesting carbohydrate in the form of glycogen from the animals muscle tissue. I think it's odd to consume a protein only, bland tasting shake for the purpose of fasting, especially when I as pointed out, we have the natural adaptation to not burn our heart and organs away so long as we remain in a relaxed state, until real starvation begins of course, which is after fat stores are completely gone. PSMF seems to be mostly about rapid weight loss while water only fasting goes beyond just weight loss and nitrogen balance. Water-only fasting is about not ingesting anything that has any caloric value to it, including protein. If you ingest protein, even from a non-animal muscle glycogen source, as in from a sugarless protein shake, you're still ingesting protein and calories that must be assimilated, which takes energy. Water only fasting is about avoiding that process and allowing the digestive system to go into complete hibernation and let the body go to work on things like blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and other things.

 

[tara]

Hard to know how much of the apparent benefit came from water fasting, and how much came from jjust excluding som eparticularly burdensome components of their diets. If they were previously eating SADish, it would be interesting to see comparisons between full water fast and very low fat/PUFA variants.

It would also be interesting to see what happened to their BMR over this period.

 

[michael94]

post 113534 If you ingest protein, even from a non-animal muscle glycogen source, as in from a sugarless protein shake, you're still ingesting protein and calories that must be assimilated, which takes energy. Water only fasting is about avoiding that process and allowing the digestive system to go into complete hibernation and let the body go to work on things like blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and other things.

I can see how you came to that reasoning but a psmf has all the benefits wrt treating metabolic syndrome/hypertension that you would get from water fasting. It's also great insurance for those that can't go into hibernation mode and have sometimes stressful responsibilities/ activity to do.

 

[Westside PUFAs]

I forgot to mention the hunger suppression once real ketosis hits in water-only fasting. Hunger goes away around the 72 hour mark. You can then test your urine to see. Sensitivity to smell increases dramatically but the hunger is gone. Some people report feeling a state of bliss while others have "detox" symptoms. Some have good days and bad days during the fast. Here is a woman who recently did a water-only fast to try to heal her rheumatoid arthritis and documented most days on video, here is her on day 11 of no food, water only, looking completely normal:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_sF7P1s2bM

Many religious people also do water fasting.