Here is a wild new study on how intermittent fasting may differently affect males and females. The study was done on rats, but I think a lot of the results could be applied to humans.
Researchers put rats on a variety of dietary regimes: 20% and 40% calorie restriction, every other day feeding (intermittent fasting), and a high-fat/high-sugar diet (to signal food surplus). A number of genes were tracked, along with hormone ratios.
The authors made an interesting statement in the introduction: "It would be biologically wasteful for either gender to maintain a contemporaneous high reproductive capacity while their opposite gender does not." I would not have thought of this! The assumption is that if food is restricted for one sex in a natural setting, then it is most likely restricted for the other sex as well. This sets up a type of "game theory" situation, where each sex tries to maximize their reproductive success given that that the other sex is in the same boat.
The study found that males on the intermittent fasting regimen ended up with the highest testosterone to estrogen ratio. The theory was that males adapt "in a manner that is expected to increase the probability of eventual fertilization of females that the males predict are likely to be sub-fertile due to their perception of a food deficient environment." In other words, males are expecting the food shortage to negatively impact the fertility of females, and so their own bodies compensate by increasing the levels of male sex hormones.
Here is a wild new study on how intermittent fasting may differently affect males and females. The study was done on rats, but I think a lot of the results could be applied to humans.
Researchers put rats on a variety of dietary regimes: 20% and 40% calorie restriction, every other day feeding (intermittent fasting), and a high-fat/high-sugar diet (to signal food surplus). A number of genes were tracked, along with hormone ratios.
The authors made an interesting statement in the introduction: "It would be biologically wasteful for either gender to maintain a contemporaneous high reproductive capacity while their opposite gender does not." I would not have thought of this! The assumption is that if food is restricted for one sex in a natural setting, then it is most likely restricted for the other sex as well. This sets up a type of "game theory" situation, where each sex tries to maximize their reproductive success given that that the other sex is in the same boat.
The study found that males on the intermittent fasting regimen ended up with the highest testosterone to estrogen ratio. The theory was that males adapt "in a manner that is expected to increase the probability of eventual fertilization of females that the males predict are likely to be sub-fertile due to their perception of a food deficient environment." In other words, males are expecting the food shortage to negatively impact the fertility of females, and so their own bodies compensate by increasing the levels of male sex hormones.
Very neat! I really enjoy these type of studies.