Intermittent fasting diets could lead to problems conceiving children, study warns

NORWICH, United Kingdom — Trendy time-restricted fasting diets — or intermittent fasting — could trigger problems for couples looking to conceive a child, new research warns. The study by researchers at the University of East Anglia focused on the reproductive processes of zebrafish and discovered that there was a negative effect on egg and sperm quality after the fish returned to normal eating.

After the diet, females saw an increase in the number of offspring they produced but saw a drop in egg and offspring quality. The male’s sperm also decreased in quality. Scientists commonly use zebrafish as a comparative tool for humans because the two species are actually very similar on a genetic level.

Time-restricted fasting is an eating pattern where people limit their food consumption to certain hours of the day. It’s a popular health and fitness trend and people are doing it to lose weight and improve their health,” says Professor Alexei Maklakov from UEA’s School of Biological Sciences in a media release.

“But the way organisms respond to food shortages can affect the quality of eggs and sperm, and such effects could potentially continue after the end of the fasting period.”

“We wanted to find out more about how these sorts of diets can affect fertility in a popular model organism.”

Plate with frowning face for poor diet
(Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash)

To reach their results the team measured how the zebrafish allocated resources to body maintenance, body production, maintenance of sperm and eggs, and the quality of offspring.

“What we found is that time-restricted fasting affects reproduction differently in males and females. Once the fish returned to their normal feeding schedule, females increased the number of offspring they produced at the cost of egg quality resulting in reduced quality of offspring. The quality of male sperm also decreased,” adds Dr. Edward Ivimey-Cook, also from UEA’s School of Biological Sciences.

“These findings underscore the importance of considering not just the effect of fasting on body maintenance but also on the production of eggs and sperm.”

“Importantly, some of the negative effects on eggs and sperm quality can be seen after the animals returned to their normal levels of food consumption following time-restricted fasting,” Dr. Ivimey-Cook concludes. “More research is needed to understand how long it takes for sperm and egg quality to return back to normal after the period of fasting.”

The findings appear in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

South West News Service writer Alice Clifford contributed to this report.

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Comments

  1. I’ve noticed a rash anti fasting science articles come out after the study was published 5 years ago that proved a 72 hour fast regenerated the immune system. Something cancer patients desperately need

    “Study finds fasting for 72 hours induces immune system regeneration”

    The article this zebra fish story came from says in the abstract and first paragraph

    “Fasting increases lifespan in invertebrates, improves biomarkers of health in vertebrates and is increasingly proposed as a promising route to improve human health”

    “In the past two decades, there has been a wealth of research highlighting the robust lifespan- and healthspan-extending effects of dietary restriction”

    It seems im reading a new anti fasting story every week now. And I have to wonder what the motive is.

    Fasting usually means low food supply, in which natural selection prepares for. Once food abundance returns, natural selection, again, prepares according

    The rest of the story. From the article

    “Prioritizing offspring quality over quantity during periods of restricted food is a classic example of a commonly observed life-history trade-off”

    “Strikingly, this trade-off reversed upon refeeding in female zebrafish. Female reproduction increased, which compensated for the period of reduced nutrient intake, but it did so in conjunction with a reduction in offspring survival”

    “A similar refeeding-related increase in reproduction following transient fasting was recently reported in D. melanogaster”

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