title: Fasting during Ramadan induces a marked increase in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and decrease in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol.
abstract: We demonstrated for the first time in a Moroccan population that fasting during Ramadan, the ninth lunar month of the Muslims' year, affected lipid and lipoprotein metabolism in a group of 32 healthy adult male volunteers. This investigation was conducted to study the changes in serum total cholesterol, triglycerides, cholesterol in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL), glucose, and body weight during Ramadan. The results showed a significant decrease (7.9%, p < 0.001) in serum total cholesterol concentration during Ramadan as compared with the prefasting period. Also, we obtained a significant decrease of serum triglyceride concentration (30%, p < 0.001) during Ramadan fasting as compared to the period before Ramadan. The reduction of both serum triglycerides and total cholesterol was maintained 1 month after Ramadan. By the end of Ramadan, serum HDL cholesterol had markedly increased (14.3%, p < 0.001) and remained elevated 1 month after Ramadan in contrast to LDL cholesterol which showed a significant decrease (11.7%, p < 0.0001) also maintained 1 month after Ramadan. Mean body weight declined by 2.6% (p < 0.01) on day 29 of Ramadan, whereas during Ramadan, the diet pattern used by our subjects showed an increase of total energy intake due to carbohydrates (+ 1.4% of total energy), proteins (+ 0.4% of total energy) but not fat (-0.7% of total energy) compared to a usual diet used throughout the rest of the year. Moreover, the fat diet is high in monounsaturated (p < 0.05) and polyunsaturated fatty acid in contrast to saturated fatty acid which significantly (p < 0.05) decreased during Ramadan. These findings suggest that feeding behavior that occurs during Ramadan beneficially affects plasma lipids and lipoproteins.
authors.affiliation: Département de Biologie, Faculté des Sciences Ben M'sik, Casablanca, Morocco.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Adlouni
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ghalim
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Benslimane
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Lecerf
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Saile
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001835:Body Weight / Q000502:physiology; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000097:blood; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL / Q000097:blood*; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL / Q000097:blood*; D005215:Fasting / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D007514:Islam; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009018:Morocco; D012306:Risk
chemical_list: D008076:Cholesterol, HDL; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL; D008055:Lipids