Research

Hormonal

Fasting for 18 hours or more significantly reduces circulating PCSK9 levels in humans, independent of changes in LDL cholesterol.

Fasting for 18 hours or more significantly lowers circulating PCSK9, a protein that regulates LDL receptors. However, this does not necessarily translate to lower LDL cholesterol levels in the blood, as other regulatory mechanisms (like LDL receptor expression) may compensate. This suggests that PCSK9 levels alone are not a perfect predictor of LDL outcomes in fasting states.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Fasting (>=18 hours) strongly reduced circulating PCSK9 and lathosterol levels, whereas serum LDL levels remained unchanged.
Lena Persson et al. · Arteriosclerosis Thrombosis and Vascular Biology · 2010

Why this rating

Multiple controlled human experiments with consistent findings across different fasting durations and protocols.

Source

Circulating Proprotein Convertase Subtilisin Kexin Type 9 Has a Diurnal Rhythm Synchronous With Cholesterol Synthesis and Is Reduced by Fasting in Humans

Lena Persson et al. · Arteriosclerosis Thrombosis and Vascular Biology · 2010

DOI 10.1161/atvbaha.110.214130

crossover · n=90Cited 171×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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