Research
Hormonal
Intermittent fasting downregulates enteroendocrine signaling, specifically GLP-1, GCG, and PYY, while upregulating PPAR-α, which correlates with improved lipid profiles.
The molecular changes observed (PPAR-α upregulation, GLP-1 downregulation) suggest that IF works by altering how your body processes fats and regulates hormones, not just by restricting calories. This may inform future targeted therapies.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Notably, there was a downregulation of transcripts related to glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) and related enteroendocrine hormones. Correlation analysis highlighted key molecular pathways, with PPAR-α and B-cell-mediated immune processes significantly associated with changes in non-HDL cholesterol.
Why this rating
Based on multi-omic analysis of a subset of participants (n=27) in an RCT.
Source
Cardiometabolic and molecular adaptations to 6-month intermittent fasting in middle-aged men and women with overweight: secondary outcomes of a randomized controlled trial
Ruteja A. Barve et al. · Nature Communications · 2025
DOI 10.1038/s41467-025-66366-8
rct · n=49Cited 1×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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