Creating workplaces where we all watch out for each other

Creating workplaces where we all watch out for each other

Intermittent fasting may improve night shift worker health

A plate with a small portion of food

Photo: lacaosa/gettyimages

Melbourne, Australia — Night shift workers who practice intermittent fasting may see benefits to their blood pressure, body weight and cholesterol levels, Australian researchers are claiming.

A team led by a Monash University professor studied 250 night shift workers who were overweight or obese. The participants were randomly placed into three groups, two of which engaged in intermittent fasting. They followed their assigned diets for 24 weeks.

In a press release, lead study author Maxine Bonham, a professor in the department of nutrition, dietetics and food at Monash, said shift workers face an increased risk of weight gain and developing Type 2 diabetes. Why? Because work schedules leave them “little choice but to eat at times of the day normally associated with sleeping.”

Findings show, however, that the workers who consumed about 25% of their daily dietary intake two times a week while following their usual diet the rest of the week experienced various “favorable changes” in health.

“By testing the effectiveness of two 5:2 strategies compared with continuous energy restriction on weight loss and improvements in insulin resistance in night shift workers, we were able to understand that just by minimizing food intake one to two days a week, without changing any other aspect of their diet, we can improve night shift worker health,” Bonham said.

The study was published in the journal eBioMedicine.


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Original article published by Safety+Health an NSC publication

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