Scientists have identified a formula for intermittent fasting to maintain liver health.

This regimen also allows you to maintain a normal weight. So far only tested on mice.

The most common chronic liver disease worldwide is non-alcoholic fatty disease (NAFLD). It is associated with genetics or excess weight. If left untreated, the disease can develop into non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, due to which scars appear on the liver and it becomes inflamed. The risk of liver failure and liver cancer also increases.

Intermittent fasting has recently gained popularity as a means of improving health, including the liver. In a new study, scientists from the German Cancer Research Center and the University of Tübingen examined the effect of intermittent fasting on diseases of this organ.

To begin with, the scientists fed the mice a “Western diet”: food high in fat and sugar. This lasted 32 weeks. Thus, it was possible to cause non-alcoholic steatohepatitis in animals. Then one group remained on the same diet, and the other was put on a 5:2 intermittent fasting regime, that is, every week, two days in a row without food, but with free access to water.

Mice that continued to receive unlimited amounts of food continuously gained weight and body fat, and they also developed chronic liver inflammation. Interestingly, the mice on the diet ate more food during the five days when they had free access to food, but did not eat at all for two days. Their weight did not increase, and their tests showed significantly lower markers indicating a liver problem.

The researchers also experimented with the duration and format of intermittent fasting. They concluded that a 5:2 fasting format was better than a 6:1 fasting schedule and that 24-hour fasting intervals were more effective than 12-hour fasting intervals.

Moreover, a thorough study of the biochemical parameters of mice from different groups allowed the authors of the work to identify two proteins that are responsible for the identified protective mechanisms for the body during starvation. One is responsible for regulating fat metabolism in the liver, and the other is responsible for the biosynthesis of glucose from non-carbohydrate sources.

Scientists noted that intermittent fasting led to metabolic changes. When these proteins were artificially removed from the liver cells of mice, the diet no longer prevented chronic inflammation and scarring of the organ.

The authors of the work expect to conduct studies that can show whether intermittent fasting will be just as beneficial for the human liver.