Saintis Amerika Dapati Puasa Dapat Elak Otak Daripada Mengecut

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Kajian saintifik terbaruperubatan Barat mendapati berpuasa dua kali seminggu, sebagai contoh, bolehmengelakkan otak individu daripada mengecut dengan pertambahan umur, selainmanfaat kepada mereka yang menghidapi penyakit jantung, diabetes dan kanser.

Berpuasa pada masa dulu pernah digunakan dalamrawatan perubatan namun kajian terbaru menunjukkan ia perlu diterapkan semula.

Ini kerana ia mampu mencetuskan pelbagai hormonyang membantu meningkatkan kesihatan selain perubahan metabolisme badan.

Berpuasa selama beberapa hari hanya melibatkanpemakanan makanan antara 500 dan 800 kalori sehari sahaja berbanding hari biasaiaitu 2,000 kalori bagi wanita dan 2,500 kalori (lelaki).

Ia menurunkan tahap hormon yang dikaitkan dengankanser dan diabetes selain kolestrol ‘tidak baik’ dan triglyceride dalam darahserta pengurangan radikal bebas, molekul yang dikaitkan dengan pelbagaipenyakit.

Ketua Neorosains Institut Penuaan Nasional AmerikaSyarikat (AS), Profesor Mark Mattson berkata, faedahnya sama seperti andabersenam. Ia boleh melindungi otak daripada penyakit kemerosotan otak sepertiAlzheimer dan Parkinson.

Dalam satu kajian yang dilaporkan oleh JurnalObesiti Antarabangsa tahun lepas, sekumpulan wanita obes dan gemuk diberikanpemakanan melibatkan 1,500 kalori sehari untuk satu minggu.

Satu lagi kumpulan diberikan pemakanan 500 kaloriuntuk dua hari dan kemudian 2,000 kalori setiap hari pada lima hari seterusnya.

Pakar diet Universiti Manchester, Dr. MicheleHarvie yang mengetuai kajian itu berkata, kedua-dua kumpulan menunjukkanpenurunan berat badan yang sama selain pengurangan sama penanda biologi yangboleh meningkatkan risiko kanser. – Agensi

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Fasting two days a week could stop dementia

Fasting two days a week could prevent your brain shrinking with age, suggests new research.

Fasting was a common medical treatment in the past, but now new research suggests there may be good reason for it to make a comeback. This is because it seems to trigger all sorts of healthy hormonal and metabolic changes.
Researchers have long known that cutting back animals’ calories over an extended period can make them live up to 50% longer – it’s been harder to prove benefits in humans because few people can stick to this restrictive regimen.

But there’s now emerging evidence to show occasional fasting – which is much more manageable – also carries benefits. Fasting days involve eating between 500 and 800 calories (the usual daily intake for a woman is 2,000 calories, for a man, 2,500).
This intake appears to cause a drop in levels of growth-factor, a hormone linked with cancer and diabetes, as well as a reduction in “bad” LDL cholesterol and triglycerides (fats) in the blood.

Meanwhile, free radicals – the damaging molecules linked to disease – are dampened down. Studies also suggest that levels of inflammation can fall. And now there is the suggestion that fasting protects the brain, too.

“Suddenly dropping your food intake dramatically – cutting it by at least half for a day or so – triggers protective processes in the brain,” explains Professor Mark Mattson, head of neuroscience at the U.S. National Institute On Ageing.
“It is similar to the beneficial effect you get from exercise.”
This could help protect the brain against degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

Prof. Mark Mattson is one of the pioneers of research into fasting – a few years ago he made a breakthrough when he found rats could get nearly all the benefits of calorie restriction if the scientists only cut back their calories every other day. On the next day the rats could eat as much as they liked and yet they showed the same benefits as rats on a low-calorie regimen all the time.

Suddenly it looked as if humans could benefit from a form of calorie restriction regimen that, unlike daily restriction, is feasible to follow. Now results of other trials are revealing the benefits.

In one study, reported last year in the International Journal of Obesity, a group of obese and overweight women was put on a diet of 1,500 calories a day while another group was put on a very low 500-calorie diet for two days, then 2,000 calories a day for the rest of the week.

Both groups were eating a healthy Mediterranean-style diet.
“We found that both lost about the same amount of weight and both saw a similar drop in biomarkers that increase your risk of cancer,” says Dr. Michelle Harvie, a dietitian at Manchester University who led the research.
“The aim was to find which was the most effective and we found that the women in the fasting group actually had a bigger improvement in sensitivity to insulin.” Improved insulin sensitivity means better control of blood sugar levels.


Read more: http://www.bellenews.com/2012/02 ... ould-stop-dementia/