PMID- 29458369
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20180412
LR  - 20240313
IS  - 1472-6882 (Electronic)
IS  - 1472-6882 (Linking)
VI  - 18
IP  - 1
DP  - 2018 Feb 20
TI  - Is fasting safe? A chart review of adverse events during medically supervised, 
      water-only fasting.
PG  - 67
LID - 10.1186/s12906-018-2136-6 [doi]
LID - 67
AB  - BACKGROUND: Evidence suggests that fasting, during which only water is consumed, 
      results in potentially health promoting physiological effects. However, 
      peer-reviewed research assessing the safety of water-only fasting is lacking. To 
      address this, we conducted a chart review to describe adverse events (AEs) that 
      occurred during medically supervised, water-only fasting. METHODS: Electronic 
      charts from patient visits to a residential medical facility from 2006 to 2011 
      were reviewed. Patients who were at least 21 years of age and water-only fasted 
      for >/=2 consecutive days with a refeeding period equal to half of the fast length 
      were included. Out of 2539 charts, 768 visits met our inclusion and exclusion 
      criteria. AEs were abstracted from chart notes and classified according to CTCAE 
      (v4.03) and MedDRA (v12.1) terminology. Descriptive analysis of AEs is reported. 
      RESULTS: During the protocol period, the highest grade AE (HGAE) in 555 visits 
      was a grade 2 event or lower, in 212 visits it was a grade 3 event, in 1 visit it 
      was a grade 4 event, and there were no grade 5 events. There were 2 (0.002%) 
      visits with a serious adverse event (SAE). The majority of AEs identified were 
      mild (n = 4490, 75%) in nature and known reactions to fasting. CONCLUSIONS: To 
      our knowledge, this is the most comprehensive analysis of AEs experienced during 
      medically supervised, water-only fasting conducted to date. Overall, our data 
      indicate that the majority of AEs experienced were mild to moderate and known 
      reactions to fasting. This suggests that the protocol used in this study can be 
      safely implemented in a medical setting with minimal risk of a SAE.
FAU - Finnell, John S
AU  - Finnell JS
AD  - AOMA Graduate School of Integrative Medicine, Austin, TX, 78745, USA.
FAU - Saul, Bradley C
AU  - Saul BC
AD  - NoviSci, Durham, NC, USA.
FAU - Goldhamer, Alan C
AU  - Goldhamer AC
AD  - TrueNorth Health Center, Santa Rosa, CA, 95404, USA.
AD  - TrueNorth Health Foundation, 1501 Pacific Avenue, Santa Rosa, CA, 95404, USA.
FAU - Myers, Toshia R
AU  - Myers TR
AD  - TrueNorth Health Foundation, 1501 Pacific Avenue, Santa Rosa, CA, 95404, USA. 
      toshia@truenorthhealth.com.
LA  - eng
GR  - NA/National Health Association/
PT  - Clinical Trial
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20180220
PL  - England
TA  - BMC Complement Altern Med
JT  - BMC complementary and alternative medicine
JID - 101088661
RN  - 059QF0KO0R (Water)
SB  - IM
MH  - Adult
MH  - Aged
MH  - Fasting/*adverse effects/metabolism
MH  - Female
MH  - Humans
MH  - Male
MH  - Middle Aged
MH  - Water/*metabolism
MH  - Young Adult
PMC - PMC5819235
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - Adverse events
OT  - Fasting
OT  - Safety
COIS- ETHICS APPROVAL AND CONSENT FOR PARTICIPATION: This study was approved by the 
      Institutional Review Board (IRB) at the AOMA Graduate School of Integrative 
      Medicine (AOMA: 2015-002). The research was conducted in accordance with the 
      approved protocol and complied with the standards of the Declaration of Helsinki. 
      This study involved a retrospective review of existing data that was 
      de-identified prior to analysis and was granted a waiver of informed consent by 
      the AOMA IRB. CONSENT FOR PUBLICATION: Not applicable for this study. COMPETING 
      INTERESTS: ACG is the director of the TrueNorth Health Center, president of the 
      board of the TrueNorth Health Foundation, and member of the board of the National 
      Health Association. He does not receive financial compensation for these roles. 
      BCS and TRM are paid consultants for the TrueNorth Health Foundation, which is 
      funded in part by the TrueNorth Health Center. JSF received funds from the 
      National Health Association grant. PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Springer Nature remains 
      neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional 
      affiliations.
EDAT- 2018/02/21 06:00
MHDA- 2018/04/13 06:00
PMCR- 2018/02/20
CRDT- 2018/02/21 06:00
PHST- 2017/05/17 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2018/02/12 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2018/02/21 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2018/02/21 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2018/04/13 06:00 [medline]
PHST- 2018/02/20 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - 10.1186/s12906-018-2136-6 [pii]
AID - 2136 [pii]
AID - 10.1186/s12906-018-2136-6 [doi]
PST - epublish
SO  - BMC Complement Altern Med. 2018 Feb 20;18(1):67. doi: 10.1186/s12906-018-2136-6.