While people all over the country look for ways to reduce fat consumption, fasting may be a valid option. Stephanie Bucklin, a Live Science Contributor, presents a study that affirms this notion. The study involved two groups of people - one group that consumed a set number of calories within 6 hours from 8 a.m to 2 p.m, and another that consumed the same number of calories within 12 hours from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Conclusions showed that the first group burned more fat and felt less hunger drained.

Courtney Peterson, lead author of the study, explains that a human body’s ability to burn fat is highest at about 12 to 14 hours of fasting. She goes on to describe that after these 12 hours of fasting, the body starts to burn the stores of fat that every human body has. However, because the results did not reveal a significant enough difference from the two groups, the findings could have been out of coincidence or labeled inconclusive. Though other preliminary studies show similar results, we don’t know for sure. Nevertheless, fasting for people, excluding children and pregnant women, might be a viable option in trying to get rid of fast fat consumption.

Fasting is, to an extent, risky, because it is hard to tell when it is getting over the line. For example, children are one target group that may fall victim when trying to fast. Because children are always growing, their bodies are building and the cells inside their bodies are in process. When a child fasts, his/her cells divide slower than usual but this may harm the growing body. Thus, fasting ought to be treated with care, as it can turn into a harm as easily as it can be a health gain.

Skipping dinner may not be the absolute best choice in choosing healthy lifestyles, but certainly limiting the amount and the substance of what you eat might be the safest route to take. It is always a good idea to be aware of what you are consuming and how you are doing that to take care of your body, so make sure to be in constant check!

<Jiseon Choi / Granada Hills Charter High School 10th>