Researchers Find Fasting Reduces Inflammation and Improves Chronic Inflammatory Disease

Fasting diets have aroused the interest of the public and scientists in recent years, but fasting should not be considered a fad. In a study published in CellMount Sinai researchers found that fasting reduced inflammation and improved chronic inflammatory diseases without affecting the immune system's response to acute infections.

While acute inflammation is a normal immune process that helps fight infections, chronic inflammation can have serious health consequences, including heart disease, diabetes, cancer, multiple sclerosis. and inflammatory diseases of the intestine.

"Caloric restriction is known to improve inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, but the mechanisms by which a reduction in caloric intake controls inflammation have been poorly understood," said Miriam Merad, lead author, MD, Ph.D., director of the Institute of Precision Immunology at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Working with human and mouse immune cells, Dr. Merad and colleagues have shown that intermittent fasting reduces the release of pro-inflammatory cells called "monocytes" into the bloodstream. Subsequent investigations revealed that during periods of fasting, these cells go into "sleep mode" and are less inflammatory than the monocytes found in those who have been fed.

"Monocytes are highly inflammatory immune cells that can cause severe tissue damage and the population has seen an increase in blood flow as a result of human-acquired eating habits over the past centuries," said Dr. Merad.

"Given the wide range of diseases caused by chronic inflammation and the growing number of patients with these diseases, there is tremendous potential for research on the anti-inflammatory effects of fasting," said the first author , Stefan Jordan. , postdoctoral fellow, Department of Oncology Sciences, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Icahn.

The researchers plan to continue to try to decipher the molecular mechanisms by which fasting improves inflammatory diseases, which could lead to new preventive therapeutic strategies for the treatment of many human diseases.