Studies in mice by a Canadian research team have shown how intermittent fasting (IF) without any calorie restriction results in animals shedding fat and losing body weight, leads to improved glucose homeostasis, and also protects against metabolic dysfunction. The Canadian research team, led by Kyoung-Han Kim, Ph.D., at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, put mice on a regime of two days of unrestricted feeding followed by one day of fasting. They found that after 16 weeks the IF animals weighed less than the control group of mice that had eaten the same volume of food, which correlated with the loss of white adipose tissue (WAT) and increased thermogenesis. The beneficial effects of IF on glucose homeostasis and liver metabolism in previously obese animals were seen after just six weeks. Further analysis and genetic evaluation showed that the metabolic and weight loss effects seen in IF animals were mediated by IF-induced increases in vascular endothelial growth factor (V...
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