A new study suggests that intermittent fasting could possibly be beneficial for weight loss — but it could negatively impact reproduction.
Intermittent fasting is a diet that involves only eating during a specific time frame, switching between fasting and eating on a regular schedule, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.
Researchers at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England, tested how the fasting trend affected zebrafish reproduction and measured both production of sperm and eggs as well as the quality of offspring.
Zebrafish are commonly used in studies like this one since they have all the main organs involved in metabolism, according to Oxford University Press.
A group of 12 male fish and 12 female fish were put on a fully fed diet, while a different group of 18 male fish and 18 female fish were on a fasting diet. The fish in the fasting group were allowed to eat normally after 15 days.
The combined 30 male and 30 female fish were randomly paired on Days 7, 15, 21, 28 and 35 of the study with fish of the opposite sex from the “general population” in order to test reproductive performance.
Fish were given no more than five hours to reproduce, and if they failed, they were given another partner to repeat the process with the following day.
On Days 7, 15, 21 and 35 of the study, sperm from each of the 30 male fish were collected, and the eggs were assessed after two and 24 hours.
Findings showed that female fish in the fasting diet group had “significantly lower” reproduction on days 7 and 15, on average — resulting in a lower number of offspring for females in total.
There were 163 offspring from the group who were fully fed compared to the 75 from the fasting group.
Nicole Kidman is known to have practiced intermittent fasting.Steve Granitz/FilmMagic
Even after the females in the fasting group were fed normally once again, there was still a reduction of offspring, and the first had an increased growth in their fins.
Scientists discovered that the quality of both egg and sperm was negatively impacted after returning to normal levels of eating.
“The way organisms respond to food shortages can affect the quality of eggs and sperm, and such effects could potentially continue after the end of the fasting period,” professor Alexei Maklakov, an expert in evolutionary biology and author of the study, said.
They suggested that these findings could be a result of female bodies prioritizing their own health and recovering from fasting at the expense of reproduction.
Male fish that fasted also had an increased decline in the speed of their sperm over time and a “significant decline in sperm quality.”
However, the study authors noted that the results “cannot be directly compared with a two-week period in a mammal” because of metabolism differences.
Jennifer Aniston is a known intermittent fasting fan.Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
Experts hope the research will encourage people to understand the importance of the effect of fasting on fertility and not just on weight loss.
“These findings underscore the importance of considering not just the effect of fasting on body maintenance but also on the production of eggs and sperm,” study author Dr. Edward Ivimey-Cook, an expert in biological sciences, said. “Importantly, some of the negative effects on eggs and sperm quality can be seen after the animals returned to their normal levels of food consumption following time-restricted fasting.”
They noted that more research would need to be done in order to properly understand how long it takes the quality of sperm and eggs to get back to normal after fasting.
Meanwhile, a study earlier this year found thatintermittent fasting does not helpdieters lose weight, with calorie counting still the most effective way to drop any unwanted pounds.
Researchers also previously found that intermittent fasting did not actually lead to any more weight loss for obese people than daily calorie caps.
Another study from November 2022 determined that intermittent fasting and skipping breakfast are associated with a higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease.
A new COVID-19 variant is causing concern in India — and it may be 1.2 times more infectious than the Kraken variant.
The new strain, dubbed Arcturus, has increased 13-fold in the last month in the country.
Arcturus — technically the Omicron subvariant XBB.1.16 — caused India’s health ministry to launch mock drills in order to see if hospitals are properly prepared to handle a potential influx of COVID patients.
Arcturus — one of more than 600 Omicron subvariants — was first detected in January. It’s being monitored by the World Health Organization, with some officials noting it had some mutations of concern.
The variant has been detected in other countries as well, but most of the cases were in India, where it took over other variants.
Arcturus has been reported in several states in the US, including California, Washington, New Jersey, New York, Virginia and Texas, a tracker run by Rajendram Rajnarayanan, MSc, Ph.D., of the New York Institute of Technology shows.
“It’s been in circulation for a few months. We haven’t seen a change in severity in individuals or in populations, but that’s why we have these systems in place,” Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 technical lead, said during a press conference on March 29.
“It has one additional mutation in the spike protein which in lab studies shows increased infectivity as well as potential increased pathogenicity,” she added.
The new strain, dubbed Arcturus, has increased 13-fold in the last month in India.
Van Kerkhove shared that there has been no reported change in the severity of infections for the new strain.
However, a study from the University of Tokyo published on the biology research website bioRxiv suggested that Arcturus is 1.2 more infectious than the Kraken variant, writing that it will “spread worldwide in the near future.”
Mutations of the new variant could potentially make it more difficult for the immune system to take on, increasing the growth rate, scientists suggested.
New daily cases in India hit 3,108 on April 4 — an increase of 242 from the previous month.
They noted that there’s no evidence that Arcturus has the power to bypass protection from either vaccines or antibodies from prior infections compared to Kraken, which was the dominant strain in the UK by the end of February.
On April 12, there were 40,215 active cases of COVID — up by 3,122 in just one day, according to India’s Ministry of Health.
Figures from Our World in Data, run by Oxford University, show that new daily cases in India hit 3,108 on April 4 — an increase of 242 from the previous month.
For the first time in more than a year in some areas, some states reintroduced mask mandates in public places, according toIndia.com.
The health minister of the Indian state Kerala reinstated masks for pregnant women, the elderly and those with underlying health conditions on Saturday.
Artificial intelligence has taken phone scams to a frightening new level.
An Arizona mom claims that scammers used AI to clone her daughter’s voice so they could demand a $1 million ransom from her as part of a terrifying new voice scheme.
“I never doubted for one second it was her,” distraught mother Jennifer DeStefano told WKYT while recalling the bone-chilling incident. “That’s the freaky part that really got me to my core.”
This bombshell comes amid a rise in “caller-ID spoofing” schemes, in which scammers claim they’ve taken the recipient’s relative hostage and will harm them if they aren’t paid a specified amount of money.
The Scottsdale resident recounted how she received a call from an unfamiliar phone number, which she almost let go to voicemail.
Then, DeStefano remembered that her 15-year-old daughter Brie was on a ski trip, so she answered the call to make sure nothing was amiss.
“I never doubted for one second it was her,” said DeStefano.Jennifer DeStefano/Facebook
That simple decision would turn her entire life upside down: “I pick up the phone, and I hear my daughter’s voice, and it says, ‘Mom!’ and she’s sobbing,” the petrified parent described. “I said, ‘What happened?’ And she said, ‘Mom, I messed up,’ and she’s sobbing and crying.”
Her confusion quickly turned to terror after she heard a “man’s voice” tell “Brie” to put her “head back” and “lie down.”
“This man gets on the phone, and he’s like, ‘Listen here. I’ve got your daughter,’ ” DeStefano explained, adding that the man described exactly how things would “go down.”
“You call the police, you call anybody, I’m going to pop her so full of drugs,” the mysterious caller threatened, per DeStefano, who was “shaking” at the time. “I’m going to have my way with her, and I’m going to drop her off in Mexico.”
All the while, she could hear her daughter in the background pleading, “‘Help me, Mom. Please help me. Help me,’ and bawling.”
Brie was on a ski trip the whole time.Briana DeStefano/Facebook
That’s when Brie’s faux kidnapper demanded the ransom.
He initially asked for $1 million, but then lowered the figure to $50,000 after DeStefano said she didn’t “have the money.”
The nightmare finally ended after the terrified parent, who was at her other daughter’s studio at the time, received help from one of her fellow moms.
After calling 911 and DeStefano’s husband, they confirmed that Brie was safe and sound on her skiing excursion.
However, for the entire call, she was convinced that her daughter was in peril. “It was completely her voice,” the Arizonan described. “It was her inflection. It was the way she would have cried.”
As it turned out, her progeny never said any of it, and the voice was devised via an AI simulation like a case of long-distance ventriloquism.
The identity of the cybernetic catfish is unknown at this time, however, computer-science experts say that voice-cloning tech has evolved to the point that someone’s tone and manner of speaking can be re-created from the briefest of soundbites.
“In the beginning, it would require a larger amount of samples,” explained Subbarao Kambhampati, a computer-science professor and AI authority at Arizona State University. “Now there are ways in which you can do this with just three seconds of your voice. Three seconds. And with the three seconds, it can come close to how exactly you sound.”
With a large enough sample size, the AI can mimic one’s “inflection” as well as their “emotion,” per the professor.
Think how Robert Patrick’s sinister T-1000 robot from the sci-fi classic “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” parrots the voice of John Connor’s mom to try and lure him home.
DeStefano found the voice simulation particularly unsettling given that “Brie does NOT have any public social media accounts that has her voice and barely has any,” per a post on the mom’s Facebook account.
“She has a few public interviews for sports/school that have a large sampling of her voice,” described Brie’s mom. “However, this is something to be extra concerned with kids who do have public accounts.”
Indeed, FBI experts warn that fraudsters often find their targets on social media.
“If you have it [your info] public, you’re allowing yourself to be scammed by people like this,” said Dan Mayo, the assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s Phoenix office. “They’re going to be looking for public profiles that have as much information as possible on you, and when they get a hold of that, they’re going to dig into you.”
In order to prevent being hornswoggled, he advises asking the scammer a bunch of questions about the “abductee” that they wouldn’t know.
Mayo also suggested looking out for red flags, such as if they’re calling from an unfamiliar area code or using an international number.
Meanwhile, DeStefano warned people on Facebook to alert authorities if the scam she described happened to them or anyone they knew.
“The only way to stop this is with public awareness!” she said. “Also, have a family emergency word or question that only you know so you can validate you are not being scammed with AI! Stay safe!”
Her public service announcement is particularly timely given the recent spate of kidnapper schemes.
Last month, TikToker Beth Royce allegedly received a call from a mysterious man who demanded that she pay him $1,000 or he’d kill her sister. All the while, a woman could be heard sobbing in the background.
