Can Intermittent Fasting Have Adverse Effects On Female Reproductive Hormones? Here’s What This Study Says
By now, I believe we are all aware of the concept of intermittent fasting. A lifestyle that has become a trend and also is religiously followed by many people, especially women. You must have heard about this term from many celebrities too. Now, intermittent fasting is basically an eating style that one follows. The basic rule for fasting is that there is a fixed time to eat the food and apart from that, the person cannot eat anything, which is fasting. The sole purpose of this is to lose weight. Now, a recent study conducted in Illinois found that intermittent fasting can have damaging effects on a woman’s reproductive hormones.
The study “Effect of time-restricted eating on sex hormones level on premenopausal and postmenopausal females” was conducted by many researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago. The research was headed by Krista Varady who is the university’s professor of nutrition. To reach a justified conclusion, the study had a group of women participants, which was a mix of premenopausal and postmenopausal obese females. The study was conducted on the women for eight weeks in which they were asked to keep intermittent fasting.
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One result of the study that needs to be noted here is that the DHEA levels, also known as dehydroepiandrosterone, a hormone that is generally advised in cases to improve ovarian function and egg quality, were considerably lower in both pre-menopausal and post-menopausal women. And this is bad for post-menopausal women because their body already goes low on estrogen after menopause, and DHEA helps them restore it. However, sex hormones like estrogens, progesterone, and androgens did not change in the women at the end of the research. The study saw no signs of skin changes and sexual disorders in postmenopausal women.
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Well, it is very important for the ladies to be aware of anything new that they are adding to their lifestyles. We have become more concerned and conscious about our bodies, but it should be dealt with at the cost of serious health issues. Also, we should never follow any lifestyle trend blindly, only because it has proven to be beneficial for others. These are little things that we all should definitely keep in mind, especially after such eye-opening data by the researchers.
