Illuminating insights: Exploring the effect of 16/8 intermittent fasting on serum cytokine levels in overweight adults

Abstract

Background: The immune system's pivotal role extends to numerous diseases, and maintaining a balance between dietary and consumed energy is vital for preventing chronic illnesses and increasing life expectancy. Intermittent fasting (IF), a dietary approach typically implemented through time restrictions, exerts positive effects on the immune system and shows promising outcomes in managing various diseases.

Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of IF on the immune system with a wide cytokine panel.

Material and methods: A total of 21 volunteers with body mass index (BMI) between 25 and 30 were included in the study. Fasting was applied for 16 h in a day to the volunteers, and they were free to consume food for the rest of the day. The weight, BMI, interleukin (IL)-1β, interferon (IFN)-α2, IFN-γ, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)-1, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12p70, IL-17A, IL-18, IL-23, and IL-33 values were measured using flow cytometry and compared before and after 21 days follow-up.

Results: The mean age of study participants was 37.76 ±8.06 years and weight loss of the volunteers was 3.35 percentile compared to the values obtained before fasting. The pro-inflammatory cytokines decreased, while anti-inflammatory cytokines increased after fasting; there was a significant difference in TNF-α, MCP-1, IL-6, IL-8, and IL-33 values. Also, IL-1β, IL-8 and IL-12p70 had moderately positive, IL-33 had strongly negative, and IL-10 had moderately negative correlation with the BMI change over time.

Conclusions: Intermittent fasting has positive effects on obesity-induced inflammation and promotes decrease in proinflammatory cytokines and increase in IL-33 values, which is known to have a protective effect on fat-associated inflammation.

Keywords: IL-33; cytokine; inflammation; intermittent fasting; obesity.