{"id":2073,"date":"2026-06-30T10:45:53","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T10:45:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pk-pharmakommunikation.de\/blog\/fasting-is-good-if-you-protect-your-microbiome\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T11:33:35","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T11:33:35","slug":"fasting-is-good-if-you-protect-your-microbiome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pk-pharmakommunikation.de\/en\/blog\/fasting-is-good-if-you-protect-your-microbiome\/","title":{"rendered":"Fasting is good\u2014if you protect your microbiome"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Fasting has an impressively positive reputation in the medical world: fewer calories, lower insulin levels, less inflammation, and more autophagy. It sounds like a metabolic wellness break at the cellular level. But right where many traditional fasting regimens aim to be particularly thorough, problems arise: in so-called colon cleansing.<\/p>\n<p>Bear in mind: The gut is not a drainpipe, but an ecosystem. And anyone who \u201ccleanses\u201d this ecosystem with Glauber\u2019s salt, Epsom salt, enemas, or colon hydrotherapy isn\u2019t just getting rid of supposed waste\u2014they\u2019re also disrupting the microbial infrastructure that\u2019s essential for health, immune modulation, and metabolism.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Underestimated Player in Metabolism<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Short-chain fatty acids, vitamins, antioxidants, and anti-inflammatory substances\u2014the intestinal microbiome produces all of these. Butyrate, in particular, is considered a metabolically interesting candidate: it stabilizes the intestinal barrier, has anti-inflammatory effects, and is associated with beneficial effects on body weight.<\/p>\n<p>A diverse microbiome is thus not merely a decorative accessory to a healthy diet, but an important functional player. Fasting can have a beneficial effect on the microbiome. Studies suggest that intermittent fasting and fasting periods lasting several days can increase microbial diversity and promote beneficial bacteria. However, what happens during the eating windows is crucial: Combining intermittent fasting with a low-fiber diet quickly undermines the concept.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Colon Cleansing: An Old Tradition, a Newly Recognized Problem<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Many classic fasting protocols are from a time when the microbiome was not considered scientifically significant. Nowadays, some aspects of these protocols seem outdated. A study on the ten-day Buchinger fasting regimen\u2014which traditionally begins with a bowel cleansing\u2014shows where this can lead: pro-inflammatory proteobacteria increased, while important fiber-metabolizing bacteria such as Ruminococcaceae decreased, an effect that only returns to normal after about three months (<a href=\"https:\/\/pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/articles\/PMC6861737\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mesnage et al. 2019<\/a>). Since fasting and bowel cleansing are inextricably linked in the Buchinger protocol, the study leaves open which of the two factors was actually the driving force\u2014one more reason to at least skip the bowel cleansing as a precaution. A bowel cleanse isn\u2019t effective as a \u201cdetox\u201d anyway: detoxification is the job of the liver, the kidneys\u2014and also an intact microbiome.<\/p>\n<p>A large British biobank analysis involving over 500,000 participants suggests that this is not only unpleasant in the short term but may also have long-term implications: Those who regularly took osmotic laxatives such as Glauber\u2019s salt or Epsom salt had a significantly increased risk of dementia (<a href=\"https:\/\/pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/articles\/PMC10115504\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Yang et al. 2023, Neurology<\/a>). Whether the laxatives are the direct cause remains unclear\u2014but it\u2019s one more reason not to voluntarily subject your gut to this procedure.<\/p>\n<p>In practical terms, this means: fasting, yes; \u201cslash-and-burn,\u201d no. More sensible approaches include plant-based eating windows, prebiotic fiber, probiotics, and\u2014contrary to old fasting folklore\u2014coffee.In a large Dutch cohort study conducted by the University of Groningen, coffee\u2014along with wine and tea\u2014was among the beverages that most strongly promoted the diversity of gut bacteria (<a href=\"https:\/\/pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/articles\/PMC5240844\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Zhernakova et al. 2016, Science<\/a>). Your gut flora will likely be grateful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fasting has an impressively positive reputation in the medical world: fewer calories, lower insulin levels, less inflammation, and more autophagy. It sounds like a metabolic wellness break at the cellular level. But right where many traditional fasting regimens aim to be particularly thorough, problems arise: in so-called colon cleansing. Bear in mind: The gut&nbsp;is&nbsp;[\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2071,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-en"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Fasting is good\u2014if you protect your microbiome &#8226; PK Pharmakommunikation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pk-pharmakommunikation.de\/en\/blog\/fasting-is-good-if-you-protect-your-microbiome\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fasting is good\u2014if you protect your microbiome &#8226; PK Pharmakommunikation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fasting has an impressively positive reputation in the medical world: fewer calories, lower insulin levels, less inflammation, and more autophagy. It sounds like a metabolic wellness break at the cellular level. But right where many traditional fasting regimens aim to be particularly thorough, problems arise: in so-called colon cleansing. 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