Study: Routine periodic fasting found to be good for health, heart

"We've shown it is not a chance finding. Fasting is not just an indicator for other healthy lifestyles. It is actually the fasting that is working to reduce the risk of disease," Dr. Benjamin D. Horne said Thursday.

"Fasting causes hunger or stress. In response, the body releases more cholesterol, allowing it to utilize fat as a source of fuel, instead of glucose. This decreases the number of fat cells in the body," Horne said.

The fewer fat cells a person has, the less likely they are to have elevated cholesterol, insulin resistance or diabetes, he said.

Doctors found that skipping at least two meals on a regular basis led to a dramatic increase of human growth hormone (HGH), which plays a metabolic role in adults, regulating glucose and insulin within the body, "so you are burning fat cells when you fast," Horne said.

During 24-hour fasting periods, he said HGH increased to an average of 1,300 percent in women and nearly 2,000 percent in men, as part of the study.

The newest research expands on a 2007 study that revealed an association between fasting and reduced risk of coronary artery disease — the leading cause of death among men and women in America, according to Intermountain Healthcare. It shows that fasting, or abstaining from food or drink for a designated period of time, was also found to reduce other cardiac risk factors, such as triglycerides, weight and blood sugar levels.

The population and the overtly religious culture in Utah provided the perfect variables for testing the effects of fasting. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are asked to fast at least once a month.

"Utahns and LDS people have a lower risk of cardiac mortality," Horne said. "Even today, despite the fact that smoking rates have declined in most states, and quite considerably in some states, the Utah rate of cardiac death is much lower than in most states."

It was also easy to find people who are accustomed to it, rather than having to ask people to start doing something he said "isn't all that easy to do" to those unfamiliar with the practice.