Moosa Sonkal
Muslims do not fast because of
medical benefits, but because it has been ordained to them through our beloved
Prophet Muhammad (Peace and Blessing of Allah be upon him). There are so many
medical benefits as a result of fasting. Fasting, in general, has been used in
medicine for medical reasons including weight management, for rest of the
digestive tract and for lowering lipids. There are many adverse effects of
total fasting as well as so-called crash diets. Islamic fasting is different
from such diet plans because in Ramadan fasting, there is no malnutrition or
inadequate calorie intake. The caloric intake of Muslims during Ramadan is at
or slightly below the national requirement guidelines. In addition, the fasting
in Ramadan is self - willingly taken and is not a prescribed imposition from
the physician.
Ramadan is a
month of self-regulation and self-training, with the hope that this training
will last beyond the end of Ramadan. If the lessons learned during Ramadan,
whether in terms of dietary intake or righteousness, and piety is carried on
after Ramadan, it is beneficial for one’s entire life. Moreover, the type of food
taken during Ramadan does not have any selective criteria of crash diets, such as those which are protein only or fruit only type
diets.
Everything that is permissible
is taken in moderate quantities. The only difference between Ramadan and total
fasting is the timing of the food; during Ramadan, we basically miss lunch and
take an early breakfast and do not eat until dusk.
Abstinence from water, during
this period, is not bad at all and in fact, it causes concentration of all
fluids within the body, producing slight dehydration. The body has its own
water conservation mechanism; in fact, it has been shown that slight
dehydration and water conservation, improves their longevity.
The physiological effect of
fasting includes lower of blood sugar, lowering of cholesterol and lowering of
the systolic blood pressure. In fact, Ramadan fasting would be an ideal
recommendation for treatment of mild to moderate, stable, non-insulin diabetes,
obesity and essential hypertension. In 1994, the first international congress
on “Health and Ramadan”, held in Casablanca, entered 50 research papers from
all over the world, from Muslim and non-Muslim researchers who have done
extensive studies on the medical ethics of fasting.
While improvement in many
medical conditions was noted; however, in no way did fasting worsen any
patients’ health or base line medical condition. On the other hand, patients, who are
suffering from severe diseases, whether diabetes or coronary artery disease,
kidney stones and so on, are exempt from fasting.
There are psychological effects
of fasting as well. There is a peace and
tranquility for those who fast during the month of Ramadan. Personal hostility is at a minimum, and the
crime rate decreases. Muslims take
advice from the prophet who said: “If one of slanders you are aggresses against
you, say I am fasting.” This
psychological improvement could be related to better stabilization of blood
glucose during fasting as hypoglycemia after eating, aggravates behavioral
changes.
Fasting
prevents cancer
Fasting not only prevents
stomach diseases and diseases related to digestion, but also, destroys the
cells in the liver which cause cancer; said Dr. D. Gupta, Deputy Director of
center for cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMP), while delivering a lecture on
the topic of “Fasting and being healthy and active” at a gathering organized by
the Rotary Club.
Referring to the recent study
conducted in
Australia
, Dr. Gupta said that controlled diet prevented the
growth of cancer in animals, more likely that this function is performed in
humans too.
Answering the questions as to
how long fasts should be observed, Dr. Gupta said: average fifteen hour per day
fasting is good for humans, but excess of it can also be harmful. One or two
days fasting every month is good for health.
Heavy intake of food, so as to
store food in the body before the fast on the part of the fast-keepers and likewise,
intake of more than the usual diet after breaking the fast, is by no means
fruitful. Further, he declared that the notion also has not been proved
scientifically correct that the body weakens due to fasting. Recent experiments,
which done on effects of starvation in rats by CCMB, shows that during the
starvation, excess food present in the body is absorbed by intestinal cells.
Excess food is gathered in
liver in the form of fats. When the food is not available, some enzymes break
them and change them into glucose and like this the body gets energy.
Moosa Sonkal
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