Intermittent fasting can boost the regenerative abilities of intestinal stem cells, a new study on mice showed, but it also had some downsides. Intermittent fasting has become one of the most popular diets, with research linking it to several health benefits. However, researchers are still investigating its effects on metabolism.
In a study on mice, a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US looked at how fasting can help intestinal stem cells regenerate. These cells are the source of new intestinal cells and their regeneration can help the intestine. They observed three groups of mice: the first group fasted for 24 hours, the second group fasted for 24 hours and then had unrestricted eating during the next 24 hours, and the third control group ate freely throughout the entire experiment.
Researchers identified a specific pathway responsible for improved regeneration which becomes active when the mice resume eating after a period of fasting, according to their findings published in the journal . "We think that fasting and refeeding represent two distinct states," Shinya Imada, a postdoctoral researcher at MIT and one of the study’s lead authors, . "In the fasted state, the ability of cells to use lipids and fatty acids as an energy source enables them to survive when nutrients are low.
And then it's the postfast refeeding state that really drives the regeneration. When nutrients become available, these stem cells and progenitor cells activate prog.