From the 5:2 diet to Rishi Sunak’s 36 hours of abstinence, IF has taken off, with claims that it will make you fitter, smarter and even younger. What do the experts say?
Until its recent emergence as a mainstream health craze, fasting was largely a religious ritual. But then longevity scientists discovered that regularly fasted bodies lived longer, with better metabolic and cardiovascular health. Granted, these bodies mostly belonged to mice, but now Rishi Sunak, Elon Musk and many others are trying intermittent fasting (IF), with influencers singing its praises and apps offering to track your fasts and pepper you with motivational messages.
The first version of IF to break through was the 5:2 diet, popularised by Michael Mosley in 2012, which involves slashing daily calories to 500 or 600 (depending on biological sex) on two non-consecutive days each week. Now, a less drastic regime is taking hold: time-restricted eating, whereby you simply prolong the overnight fast to at least 12 hours. This can mean anything from avoiding snacking after an early dinner to the 16:8 version – cramming all your eating into eight hours.
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