English Abstract
Abstract :
Epidemiological and experimental studies of eating periodicity in nan suggest that the incidence of overweight (1-5), hypercholesterol-emia (1, 6, 7), and impaired glucose tolerance (1, 8-10) increased with decreased neal frequency. However, experiments are scant on infrequent meal eating in free living individuale.
During Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, all capable Muslins are required to abstain from eating and drinking from dawn until sunset daily. In 1974, Angel and Schwartz (11) reported the effects of this practice by seven male Muslins to be: a) decreased meal frequency and daily energy intake, b) increased ability to dispose of glucose and enhanced insulin secretion during an oral glucose toler-ance test, c) elevated plasma levels of free glycerol, and d) unaltered plasma levels of glyceride glycerol, free fatty acids and cholesterol. These responses resembled those observed for laboratory animals that were meal fed (12-14). The effects of decreased eating frequency on glucose tolerance, however, were not in accord with controlled human studics (8-10). Therefore, metabolic responses to decreased cating frequency may be different in controlled and free-living individuals.
The present study was designed to investigate the effects of a self imposed alteration in eating habits during the Ramadan fast on meal frequency, nutrient intake, blood lipid profile, glucose tolerance, Immunoreactive insulin level and blood biochemical profile of male college students.
