Fasting intermittently is great! You can lose weight or maintain your current weight if you follow the right steps. This also reduces the risk of cancer and type 2 diabetes. You can either restrict your caloric intake or fast.
It doesn’t matter what you think about intermittent fasting. But it does have one flaw. It can impact your hormones!
A few studies have shown that fasting intermittently can affect hormones , particularly those that regulate reproduction.
How does intermittent fasting affect your hormones
Both male and female hormones are affected by intermittent fasting. A study found that intermittent fasting can affect the DHEA levels in the body. It is a steroid produced by the brain, adrenal glands and testes. It is essential for the synthesis of estrogens and androgens such as testosterone.
Low DHEA levels are associated with vaginal dryness in women, decreased libido and osteoporosis. DHEA has been shown to increase the likelihood that females will respond well to fertility treatments.
This isn’t a completely negative development. Women who are premenopausal or have already experienced menopause may be at an increased risk for breast cancer when their DHEA levels rise.
Premenopausal women who are obese may also benefit from DHEA levels being reduced, as this will reduce the risk of breast cancer even further. Low DHEA has been associated with problems such as libido and skin elasticity in women after menopause.
The study did not find evidence that intermittent fasting can reduce DHEA below normal levels.
The Verdict
While a drop in DHEA was the main concern, DHEA level for women were still within normal ranges at the end. So, it is not a major concern.
DHEA, which is an important component of estrogen in women after menopause, may cause concern as estrogen levels fall significantly at this time. Despite this, the women who participated in the study reported no changes in their skin or sexual issues after menopause as a result of low estrogen levels. Women must therefore weigh up the benefits of weight loss on fertility with the drop in DHEA.
More research is needed before we can be certain how intermittent fasting impacts hormones. This is a topic that is well-studied, and there is much interest in it. We can expect to find out more about the effects of intermittent fasting on human biology.
