Fans of therapeutic starvation attribute to him a whole range of useful effects for the body: cleansing, updating and even general rejuvenation. We decided to check if such a point of view has a scientific justification.
Therapeutic starvation is not dedicated to one A dozen sites And groups In social networksabout how to conduct it correctly, write Books And take off video. Practicing it describes their Sensations: “This is euphoria, joy, the feeling that you can turn the mountains. Wings appear behind the back. This is not conveyed in words " - and results: “The face has become clean from acne, the pigment spots are brightened. Of me, so many bile came out of me, during the procedure of hydrocolonotherapy it was clearly visible. Although I did not eat for six days, all the same, slags and deposits of feces continued to come out of me. ” In the USSR, therapeutic starvation Tried To treat a whole range of diseases - from bronchial asthma to schizophrenia. Today therapeutic starvation Popular Among the "biohacers" - for example, its Practicing Pavel Durov. Adepts of non -traditional medicine They promisethat starvation can cure AIDS, Cancer and Diabetes.
Therapeutic starvation is understood to be refused food completely (or only of solid), and sometimes from water. It is spent within a few hours, one day, three days, weeks and before 42 days. Usually the process includes preparation, starvation itself and a gradual way out of it. Therapeutic starvation as a method It became Popular back in the 1970s, he was actively promoted by Paul Bragg, who positions himself as a doctor. At the same time, in fact, Bragg did not have a medical education, but worked as a school teacher of physical education. Moreover, in order to visually prove the benefits of your method, Bragg added For himself 14 years, changing the date of his birth, and claimed that he was the winner of the Olympiad in the wrestling either 1908 or 1912, which was also not documented. He promised the supporters of his method to extend life up to 120 years, while he himself died in 81 years from a heart attack. His ideas in the USSR Promoted Yuri Nikolaev, author of the book “Hunger for Health”, who opened in 1981 the first department of unloading and dietary therapy in Moscow hospital No. 68 and aimed at the healing of mental illness by long-term starvation. However, clinical results he achieve I could not.
The second wave of popularity of therapeutic starvation occurred in 2016, when the Japanese scientist Yosinori Osumi received the Nobel Prize for the opening and study of autophagy mechanisms. Autophagy (self -eating) - process, during which cells process their own components, primarily damaged proteins and organelles, analyzing unnecessary or dysfunctional components. Through autophagy, bacteria and viruses that have fallen into the body can also be destroyed. Autophagy Starts First of all, hungering, as well as intense physical exercises and restriction of carbohydrate consumption. It is important to note that the Japanese scientist Spended His experiments on bakery yeast, in them he was able to highlight the genes associated with the process of autophagy.
Another team of researchers from the University of Cambridge was Conducted A series of experiments on mice. As a result of the genetic instruments, medicines or starvation of the mouse autophagy, which was advanced and were generally healthier. It was also discoveredthat the process of autophagia "protects against diseases such as Parkinson's disease, Gentington disease and some forms of dementia." Although the Nobel laureate did not conduct such experiments in public, it was Yoshinori Osumi who became the idol of the starving for healing the body, to him attributed Even the development of one of the diets with "effective cleansing of toxins and toxins." The scientist himself was not happy with such glory and repeatedly declaredthat "he never claimed that starvation in the sense of a diet contributes to the process of autophagy."
With the development of the popularity of therapeutic starvation, Experiments And in public. Scientists have selected 116 volunteers more weight, half of them adhered to interval therapeutic starvation (16 hours a day without food, the rest of the time we will allow a limited diet), and the other half - a healthy diet without restrictions on consumption time. Three months later, the results were summed up: weight loss in both groups was extremely slightly slightly, with a slight advantage in favor of the hungry in the clock, while their muscle weight of the body decreased significantly more, which can hardly be considered the advantage of their type of nutrition. Their indicators in cardiometabolic parameters also did not show the advantages of such a diet.
It is interesting to note that starvation and diets affect not only the body itself, but also on descendants. Researchers conducted experiment On round worms. The generation adhering to the diet was more healthy and prolific, but their descendants, if unlimited access to food, showed a deterioration in health and a decrease in reproductive functions. The effect was manifested even by the fourth generation. Only those “great -grandchildren” that adhered to significant restrictions in food were as hard as the first generation. Thus, the starving prauds worms “didom” on the same diet of their descendants if they sought to stay healthy.
We have not yet been able to conduct long -term research in public - the longest study according to the plan Must It was included in the two -year follow -up of certain types of nutrition, but the participants could not adhere to a diet without violations for so much time.

Olesya Gurova, Associate Professor of the Department of Endocrinology of Sechenov University, Notesthat “long periods of hunger are certainly harmful to people with gastrointestinal diseases. First of all, we are talking about peptic ulcer, gastritis, problems associated with a violation of the outflow of bile from the gallbladder. But there is another serious argument against any diet, including interval starvation. Unfortunately, they allow a person only to reduce the weight “once again”, but do not lead to a persistent effect of holding body weight. Moreover, each such “dietary race” exacerbates a violation of food behavior, changes the rate of metabolism and even affects the composition of microbiota, which can only aggravate the problem of excess weight. ” The position of experts of the Harvard Medical School is similar and the position of experts - the only proven result of the medical fasting can count weight loss. True, they note that this method is not suitable for everyone. Alexey Kalinin, senior researcher at NMIC oncology named after N. N. Blokhin, Supplies Bottom line: there are no qualitative studies of the benefits of starvation for treatment yet, and "interval starvation is akin to homeopathy." With his conclusions consistent And the point of view of the National Institute for Style (USA): “Despite numerous studies on limiting calories and starvation, there is no evidence of the benefits of these methods to maintain human health.”
At the same time limited The number of research Showsthat starvation contributes to the better tolerance of chemotherapy in the early stages of individual types of tumors, but we are not talking about the cure of oncology by starvation itself.
Thus, in the absence of contraindications, fasting, most likely, will not cause tangible harm to the body, however, it is not quite correct to call it therapeutic. To date, the only proven effect of such a technique is weight loss. True, for weight loss, this principle is not the most justified, since the loss of fat deposits is almost the same as with other diets, but the decrease in muscle mass is more significant.

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