Effects of Fast Bar on Physiological Fasting

Interest in fasting-based programs (i.e. intermittent fasting) for improvement of health and longevity continues to grow. While benefits of intermittent fasting have been convincingly demonstrated in rodent models, the more limited data in humans is less clear. The short-term fasting (e.g. 12 to 48 hours in duration) utilized in many intermittent fasting programs are considered safe, but some individuals may find them subjectively difficult. As such, the question of whether the benefits of fasting can be obtained while small amounts of food are consumed is of substantial interest. One commercially available product that is designed to be consumed during periods of intermittent fasting is the Fast Bar™,which stems out of the well-researched fasting-mimicking diet to assist prolonged fasting. The unique formulation of the Fast Bar™ is hypothesized to minimize deviations in metabolic biomarkers associated with a fasting state. This may allow for extension of a fasting period through reduced subjective difficulty of fasting.The objective of this study is to evaluate the metabolic and subjective effects of consuming a novel food product (Fast Bar™) after a short period of fasting.