Guidelines on Long-term Medical Fasting

NCT06748027 | Enrolling By Invitation DMC

• 1 other identifier: FastingGuidelines
• Study Type: observational
• Target: 60
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This study will summarize existing clinical practices in long-term medical fasting and provide international expert consensus on their scientific viability

Conditions

Fasting Period; Fasting

Keywords

consensus process; long-term fasting

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Consensus on fasting practices

  International scientific consensus on clincal fasting practices in long-term medical fasting

  18 months

Interventions

Fasting OTHER

Long-term fasting (\>3d)

Eligibility Criteria

• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)
• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Promising scientific studies on various fasting therapies suggest that fasting will play an important role as a therapeutic method in integrative and complementary medicine in the coming years. To date, however, there are no standardized guidelines for medical fasting therapy. The project presented here aims to address this situation. The aim is to bring together international clinical and scientific experts in the field of fasting in order to develop guidelines for medical fasting as part of a modified Delphi study. The methodology used to develop these guidelines is based on the processes for guidelines defined in the regulations of the Association of Scientific Medical Societies in Germany (AWMF). This project is therefore intended as a basis for the further dissemination and consolidation of this promising integrative medical method.

You may qualify if:

• Clinic criteria
• Long-term fasting (≥ 4 days, max. kcal: 25% of daily energy needs\*) is offered under medical supervision by medical doctors (MDs) / naturopathic doctors (NDs)
• Long-term fasting has been implemented as a therapeutic intervention for more than 4 years
• ≥ 50 patients / year and / or more than 200 cases in the last 10 years treated with long-term fasting
• Personal criteria
• I am a medical doctor (MD) / naturopathic doctor (ND)
• I have 4 years of experience or more in the treatment of patients with long-term fasting (≥ 4 days, max. kcal: 25% of daily energy needs\*)
• ≥ 50 patients / year and / or more than 200 cases in the last 10 years treated with long-term fasting
• according to the recently published fasting terminology in Cell Met.: International consensus on fasting terminology
• FASTING REGIMEN DEFINITIONS
• · Therapeutic / medically supervised fasting: Therapeutic fasting refers to any fasting regimen that is applied as a therapeutic intervention.
• Comment: therapeutic fasting interventions are individually tailored to a person's age, sex, body composition, physical activity level, occupation, goal, and planned duration of fasting.
• Medically supervised fasting refers to any fasting regimen that is applied as a therapeutic intervention by a trained physician or similar credentialed healthcare provider.
• Long-term fasting: Prolonged fasting (PF), also called long-term fasting (LTF), refers to fasting regimens lasting ≥4 consecutive days.
• Buchinger therapeutic fasting: Buchinger therapeutic fasting is a fluid-only fasting regimen, allowing for a maximum of 500 kcal/day and lasting at least 5 days, practiced for the prevention or treatment of diseases as well as to support one's individual health, taking into account a person's medical, psychosocial, and spiritual dimensions. It is usually accompanied by bowel/colon cleansing procedures and preceded and followed by a few days of a calorie-restricted, easily digestible diet.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Charite University, Berlin, Germany: lead
• Software AG Stiftung: collaborator
• Reformhaus Stiftung: collaborator
• Eden Stiftung: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin

Berlin, State of Berlin, 14109, Germany

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Fasting

Interventions

Angptl4 protein, mouse

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Feeding Behavior; Behavior

Study Design

• Study Type: observational
• Observational Model: OTHER
• Time Perspective: OTHER
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Prof. Dr. med.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: December 19, 2024
• First Posted: December 24, 2024
• Study Start: September 2, 2024
• Primary Completion: December 1, 2025
• Study Completion: December 1, 2025
• Last Updated: December 24, 2024

Record last verified: 2024-09

Locations

DE (1)