Is fasting the best thing for your brain, or should it be avoided at all costs? Recent years have witnessed a tremendous uptick in people talking about the life-changing value of fasting for weight loss, longevity, and everything in between. But what does the science tell us about the link between fasting and brain health? In this post, we’re exploring the current science to understand what we know, what we’re still learning, and what it means for our diet today.

Despite the recent preoccupation with fasting as a health hack, it’s notable that humans have been fasting by necessity since the start of the species. More recently (for thousands of years), fasting has been a key part of religious and other rituals. In the last decades, we’ve seen fasting popularized as a way to improve health. Proponents of this type of fasting highlight research suggesting benefits to metabolic health, decreased inflammation, weight loss, and even prolonging lifespan. Yet others have called attention to concerns for the stress placed on the body by fasting and the potential risk to certain groups, including women, the elderly, and people with a history of an eating disorder.

Fasting is a relatively broad topic encompassing a range of protocols. Technically, fasting just means going without food for a certain period. Some of the more common forms of fasting include intermittent fasting (e.g., alternate-day eating or time-restricted eating like the 16:8 protocol—fasting for 16 hours a day and eating for 8), single or multiday fasting........

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