- Experts at the University of Bath found fasting diets increased the risk of infection by 20 per cent
- Previous studies have found the 5:2 diet helps with weight loss, longer lifespans and lowering blood pressure
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Fasting diets like the popular 5:2 regime may make you live longer, but experts have warned they could leave you more susceptible to infection.
The extreme diet, which involves drastically reducing calorie intake for two days a week, has been widely credited with weight loss, longer lifespans and lowering blood pressure.
But scientists at the University of Bath – who have spent the last year testing their theory on fruit flies – have warned the diets could lead to a 20 per cent increase in infections.
Experts discovered that the genes in flies which are activated by a fungal infection are very similar or identical to the genes activated in people when they restrict their diet.
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Experts at the University of Bath have warned fasting regimes, like the popular 5:2 diets, may make you live longer but they leave people more susceptible to infectionsÂ
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Mavis Buchanan,
machester, United Kingdom,
moments ago
Of course it’s good for you has been known for thousands of yrs who needs the fruit flys .
Mavis Buchanan,
machester, United Kingdom,
6 minutes ago
It’s an ancient diet been done for thousands of yrs fasting is brilliant for the body try it and your body will bring up lots of fleym as it cleanses it’s self ?
MikeAsh,
London,
19 minutes ago
Because the biological processes in fruit flies and humans are identical.
MikeAsh,
London,
19 minutes ago
Because the biological processes in fruit flies and humans are identical.
MikeAsh,
London,
19 minutes ago
Because the biological processes in fruit flies and humans are identical.
Imp,
Manchester,
21 minutes ago
My parent was following this diet until the heart attack…..
Philip,
Birmingham,
29 minutes ago
I have followed this diet for the last 5 weeks and have lost 7kg. I am suffering my annual summer cold at the moment but unlike most years it is clearing up quickly, perhaps because I have more energy – I have read that lethargy is a side effect of the diet, but so far I have been energised. I imagine that if people keep to a severe form of the diet once they reach their optimum weight, then they might have problems, but my plan is to be less strict once I hit my target, using fast days to maintain my weight as needed rather than to schedule. I have also found that it is not difficult to create three low calorie meals for fast days and so I have not found it a hard diet to stick to. Perhaps that is because I am not a fruit fly.
poppadon,
Leeds,
34 minutes ago
I don’t care. I’m just not going to die.
huntsman34,
London, United Kingdom,
43 minutes ago
This is the most stupid diet… Intermittent fasting for idiots…
To come out of a fast when your blood sugar will be extremely low and not binge on crap takes a lot more willpower than just eating healthily all of the time.
Why will people not just eat well and exercise…? It will lead to more sustainable fat loss long term and improve your composition far more than this…
If you can get along with this, then more power to you, but as a nutritional system, it is ludicrous…
Obamanism,
London, United Kingdom,
51 minutes ago
So the old religions had it right…… One day a week fasting does you the world of good. Lent and Ramadan.
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