|
submit
articles |
| Medical Aspects Of Islamic
Fasting Shahid Athar, M.D. There are close to 900 million Muslims in
the world, including about 8 million in the North America. The majority of
them observe total fasting (no food or water) between dawn to sunset in
the month of Ramadan. They do so not for losing weight or any medical
benefit, but for them it is ordained in their Holy Book Quran which says. "O you who believe! Fasting is
prescribed to you, as it was prescribed for those before you (i.e. Jews,
& Christians) so that you may (learn) self-restraint." 2:183 According to Islamic Laws, children below
12, sick patients, travelers, and women who are menstruating or nursing a
baby are exempt from fasting. In addition to staying away from food or
water for the whole day, they are asked to stay away from sex, smoking or
misconduct during the period of fast. In addition, they are encouraged to
do more acts of piety i.e. prayer, charity, or reading Quran during this
month. Food is needed by the body to provide
energy for immediate use by burning up carbohydrates, that is, sugar.
Excess of carbohydrates which cannot be used is stored up as fat tissue in
muscles, and as glycogen in liver for future use. Insulin, a hormone from
the pancreas, lowers blood sugar and diverts it to other forms of energy
storage, that is, glycogen. To be effective, insulin has to be bound to
binding sites could receptor. obese people lack receptor; therefore, they
cannot utilize their insulin. This may lead to glucose intolerance. When one fasts (or decreases carbohydrate
intake drastically), it lowers his blood glucose and Insulin level. This
causes breakdown of glycogen from liver to provide glucose for energy need
and breakdown of fat from adipose tissue to provide for energy needs. On the basis of human physiology described
above, semi-starvation (ketogenic diets (I -5) have been devised for
effective weight control. These diets provide calculated amount of protein
in divided doses with plenty of water, multi-vitamins, etc. These
effectively lower weight, blood sugar, but because of their side effects,
should be used only under supervision of physicians. Total fasting reduces or eliminates hunger and causes rapid weight loss. In 1975, Allan Cott in his "Fasting as a Way of life" noted that "fasting brings a wholesome physiological rest for the digestive tract and central nervous system and normalizes metabolism." It must be pointed out, however, that there are also many averse effects of total fasting. That includes hypokalemia and cardiac arrythmia associated with low calorie starvation diets used in unsupervised manner. Reprint Requests: reproduced with permission from:
|