Health Effects of Intermittent Fasting: How Broad are the Benefits?

Dear Colleagues,

The objective of this Special Issue, “Health Effects of Intermittent Fasting: How Broad are the Benefits?” is to explore the wide variety of health effects that may be possible through the use of various regimens of energy restriction that are performed intermittently. Such intermittent fasting may include consumption of no food or of some minimal level of calories during a fast that is interrupted by hours to days of usual levels of caloric intake. Regimens include alternate-day fasting, fasting once or twice per week, fasting multiple days in succession once per month, time-restricted feeding, and others. These regimens’ mechanisms of action may include a myriad of biological pathways and their distinct health impacts or levels of impact require further exploration and validation. Intermittent fasting’s safe use and its efficacy in causing changes in human health may vary depending on whether the people to which it is applied are healthy, diseased, or at-risk of a chronic disease. The optimal fasting regimen and fasting’s health effects may differ between individuals depending on additional characteristics, and these differences need to be understood for the appropriate use of fasting. Fasting can be a long-term lifestyle, as evidenced by historical religious and cultural use, and research is required to further reveal the frequency, duration, and intensity of fasting that may be most feasible for use in a healthy lifestyle. In this issue, the many facets of intermittent fasting will be explored from biological and clinical perspectives to move the field toward meaningful health improvements for humans.

Dr. Benjamin D. Horne
Guest Editor

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