ReviewNutrients2019
Fasting as a Therapy in Neurological Disease.
Review in Nutrients, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 43 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
43 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 90 citations in OpenAlex.
- Comparative Risk of Gallstone Formation After Sleeve Gastrectomy and Roux-En-Y Gastric Bypass: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Obesity surgery · 2025Pooled it
- Effect of Calorie Restriction and Intermittent Fasting Regimens on Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Levels and Cognitive Function in Humans: A Systematic Review.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2024Pooled it
- Intermittent fasting: Impact, mechanisms and cautions across medical and lifestyle domains.European journal of clinical nutrition · 2026Review
- Daily intermittent fasting is an effective multiscale treatment in preclinical models of absence epilepsy.Epilepsia · 2026Article
- The Potential Protective Effects of Intermittent Fasting Against Radiation-Induced Brain Damage in a Rat Model: Suggested Involvement of IRS-1/PI3 K/AKT and BDNF/TrkB Signaling Pathways.Molecular neurobiology · 2025Article
- Current Strategies for Healthy Aging: The Interplay Between Nutrition, Metabolism, and Exercise.Cureus · 2025Review
- Mitochondrial Dysfunction in the Cardiovascular Disease Continuum: Problems of Studying the Progression During the Follow-Up of the Pathologies.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Neuro-Nutrition and Exercise Synergy: Exploring the Bioengineering of Cognitive Enhancement and Mental Health Optimization.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Faith, fasting, and well-being: Emirates Neurology Society consensus guidelines on safe Ramadan fasting in Parkinson's disease.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Review
- Exploring the effect of prolonged fasting on kynurenine pathway metabolites and stress markers in healthy male individuals.European journal of clinical nutrition · 2024Article
- Ketogenic metabolic therapy in conjunction with standard treatment for glioblastoma: A case report.Oncology letters · 2024Article
- Fasting upregulates the monocarboxylate transporter MCT1 at the rat blood-brain barrier through PPAR δ activation.Fluids and barriers of the CNS · 2024Article
- Nutrition, Immunity and Aging: Current Scenario and Future Perspectives in Neurodegenerative Diseases.CNS & neurological disorders drug targets · 2024Review
- The effect of intermittent fasting on microbiota as a therapeutic approach in obesity.Frontiers in nutrition · 2024Review
- Case report: Ketogenic diet alleviated anxiety and depression associated with insulin-dependent diabetes management.Frontiers in nutrition · 2024Article
- Review
- Short- and long-term cognitive and metabolic effects of medium-chain triglyceride supplementation in rats.Heliyon · 2023Article
- Time restricted feeding is associated with poor performance in specific cognitive domains of Suburb-Dwelling older Chinese.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Factors affecting target caloric achievement and calorie intake improvement: the nutrition support team's role.Frontiers in nutrition · 2023Article
- A mini-review: recent advancements in temporal interference stimulation in modulating brain function and behavior.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Fasting is deeply entrenched in evolution, yet its potential applications to today's most common, disabling neurological diseases remain relatively unexplored. Fasting induces an altered metabolic state that optimizes neuron bioenergetics, plasticity, and resilience in a way that may counteract a broad array of neurological disorders. In both animals and humans, fasting prevents and treats the metabolic syndrome, a major risk factor for many neurological diseases. In animals, fasting probably prevents the formation of tumors, possibly treats established tumors, and improves tumor responses to chemotherapy. In human cancers, including cancers that involve the brain, fasting ameliorates chemotherapy-related adverse effects and may protect normal cells from chemotherapy. Fasting improves cognition, stalls age-related cognitive decline, usually slows neurodegeneration, reduces brain damage and enhances functional recovery after stroke, and mitigates the pathological and clinical features of epilepsy and multiple sclerosis in animal models. Primarily due to a lack of research, the evidence supporting fasting as a treatment in human neurological disorders, including neurodegeneration, stroke, epilepsy, and multiple sclerosis, is indirect or non-existent. Given the strength of the animal evidence, many exciting discoveries may lie ahead, awaiting future investigations into the viability of fasting as a therapy in neurological disease.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.