Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Internal Medicine Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Surgery
Congress Coverage
2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress 2023 EHA Congress 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting

Keynote Webinar | Spotlight on Diet and Diabetes

Watch on-demand

An expert-led symposium exploring the prevention and management of type 2 diabetes through dietary interventions. 
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Irish Journal of Medical Science (1971 -)

22-09-2023 | Original Article

Investigation of the effect of Ramadan fasting on serum levels of melatonin, cortisol, and serotonin: the case of Turkey

Authors: Esra Şentürk, Metin Yıldız, Murat Şentürk, Ela Varol, Mehmet Salih Yildirim, Dursun Alper Yilmaz, Mehmet Emin Atay

Published in: Irish Journal of Medical Science (1971 -)

Login to get access

Abstract

Introduction

The aim of this study is to examine the effects of Ramadan fasting on melatonin, cortisol, and serotonin levels.

Methods

In this study, the blood of 19 healthy male individuals between the ages of 26 and 51, registered in Agri (Turkey) Family Health Center and fasting during Ramadan, was studied. The study was carried out in 2021–2022. The SPSS-22 package program was used in the analysis of the data. Wilcoxon analysis was used in the study.

Results

It was determined that the pre-test-post-test melatonin and cortisol levels of the individuals were not statistically significant (p>0.05). It was determined that the pre-test-post-test serotonin difference of the individuals was statistically significant (p<0.05).

Conclusion

It has been determined that Ramadan fasting increases the serotonin level of individuals but does not change the levels of melatonin and cortisol. It was determined that the level of happiness of individuals increased after Ramadan fasting. Longitudinal studies on the effects of Ramadan fasting are recommended.
Literature
1.
Trepanowski JF, Bloomer RJ (2010) The impact of religious fasting on human health. Nutr J 9:1–9 CrossRef
2.
Stockman M, Thomas D, Burke J, Apovian CM Intermittent fasting: is the wait worth the weight. 172-185
3.
Venegas-Borsellino C, Sonikpreet Martindale RG (2018) From religion to secularism: the benefits of fasting. Curr Nutr Rep 7:131–138
4.
Kawakami R, Sunaga H, Iso T et al (2022) Ketone body and FGF21 coordinately regulate fasting-induced oxidative stress response in the heart. Sci Rep 12:7338 CrossRefPubMedCentralPubMed
5.
6.
7.
Hassanein M, Al-Arouj M, Hamdy O et al (2017) Diabetes and Ramadan: practical guidelines. Diabetes Res Clin Pract 126:303–316 CrossRefPubMed
8.
Ahmed HB, Allouche E, Bouzid K et al (2022) Impact of Ramadan fasting on lipid profile and cardiovascular risk factors in patients with stable coronary artery disease. In: Annales de Cardiologie et d’Angéiologie, vol 1. Elsevier, pp 36-40
9.
Patterson RE, Sears DD (2017) Metabolic effects of intermittent fasting. Annu Rev Nutr 37
10.
Posadzki PP, Bajpai R, Kyaw BM et al (2018) Melatonin and health: an umbrella review of health outcomes and biological mechanisms of action. BMC Med 16:1–18 CrossRef
11.
Scarinci E, Tropea A, Notaristefano G et al (2019) “Hormone of darkness” and human reproductive process: direct regulatory role of melatonin in human corpus luteum. J Endocrinol Invest 42:1191–1197 CrossRefPubMed
12.
Nous A, Engelborghs S, Smolders I (2021) Melatonin levels in the Alzheimer’s disease continuum: a systematic review. Alzheimer’s Res Ther 13:1–12
13.
Katsu Y, Baker ME (2021) Cortisol. In: Handbook of hormones. Elsevier, pp 947-949
14.
Gardner DG, Shoback DM (2017) Greenspan’s basic and clinical endocrinology. McGraw-Hill Education
15.
Jones LA, Sun EW, Martin AM, Keating DJ (2020) The ever-changing roles of serotonin. Int J Biochem Cell Biol 125:105776 CrossRefPubMed
16.
De Deurwaerdere P, Di Giovanni G (2021) 5-HT interaction with other neurotransmitters: an overview. Prog Brain Res 259:1–5 CrossRefPubMed
17.
Giniatullin R (2021) Serotonin in migraine: the puzzling role of ionotropic 5-HT 3 receptor in the context of established therapeutic effect of metabotropic 5-HT 1 subtypes. Br J Pharmacol
18.
Almeneessier AS, Bahammam AS, Sharif MM et al (2017) The influence of intermittent fasting on the circadian pattern of melatonin while controlling for caloric intake, energy expenditure, light exposure, and sleep schedules: a preliminary report. Ann Thorac Med 12:183 CrossRefPubMedCentralPubMed
19.
Besbes A, Khemiss M, Bragazzi N, Ben Saad H (2022) The Impacts of Ramadan intermittent fasting on saliva flow-rate and metabolic data: a systematic review. Front Nutr 9:576 CrossRef
20.
Bahammam A (2004) Effect of fasting during Ramadan on sleep architecture, daytime sleepiness and sleep pattern. Sleep Biol Rhythms 2:135–143 CrossRef
21.
Roky R, Houti I, Moussamih S et al (2004) Physiological and chronobiological changes during Ramadan intermittent fasting. Ann Nutr Metab 48:296–303 PubMed
22.
Selmaoui B, Touitou Y (2003) Reproducibility of the circadian rhythms of serum cortisol and melatonin in healthy subjects: a study of three different 24-h cycles over six weeks. Life Sci 73:3339–3349 CrossRefPubMed
23.
24.
Berga SL, Loucks TL, Cameron JL (2001) Endocrine and chronobiological effects of fasting in women. Fertil Steril 75:926–932 CrossRefPubMed
25.
Al-Hadramy M, Zawawi T, Abdelwahab S (1988) Altered cortisol levels in relation to Ramadan. Eur J Clin Nutr 42:359–362 PubMed
26.
Bahijri S, Borai A, Ajabnoor G et al (2013) Relative metabolic stability, but disrupted circadian cortisol secretion during the fasting month of Ramadan. PLoS ONE 8:e60917 CrossRefPubMedCentralPubMed
27.
McAllister MJ, Pigg BL, Renteria LI, Waldman HS (2020) Time-restricted feeding improves markers of cardiometabolic health in physically active college-age men: a 4-week randomized pre-post pilot study. Nutr Res 75:32–43 CrossRefPubMed
28.
Jamshed H, Beyl RA, Della Manna DL et al (2019) Early time-restricted feeding improves 24-hour glucose levels and affects markers of the circadian clock, aging, and autophagy in humans. Nutrients 11:1234 CrossRefPubMedCentralPubMed
29.
Kirschbaum C, Bono EG, Rohleder N et al (1997) Effects of fasting and glucose load on free cortisol responses to stress and nicotine. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 82:1101–1105 PubMed
30.
Ishida A, Nakajima W, Takada G (1997) Short-term fasting alters neonatal rat striatal dopamine levels and serotonin metabolism: an in vivo microdialysis study. Dev Brain Res 104:131–136 CrossRef
31.
32.
33.
Huether G, Zhou D, Rüther E (1997) Long-term modulation of presynaptic 5-HT-output: experimentally induced changes in cortical 5-HT-transporter density, tryptophan hydroxylase content and 5-HT innervation density. J Neural Transm 104:993–1004 CrossRefPubMed
Metadata
Title
Investigation of the effect of Ramadan fasting on serum levels of melatonin, cortisol, and serotonin: the case of Turkey
Authors
Esra Şentürk
Metin Yıldız
Murat Şentürk
Ela Varol
Mehmet Salih Yildirim
Dursun Alper Yilmaz
Mehmet Emin Atay
Publication date
22-09-2023
Publisher
Springer International Publishing
Published in
Irish Journal of Medical Science (1971 -)
Print ISSN: 0021-1265
Electronic ISSN: 1863-4362
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11845-023-03532-1
Webinar | 08-11-2023 | 18:00 (CET)

Keynote Webinar | Spotlight on Diet and Diabetes

Watch now

An expert-led symposium exploring the prevention and management of type 2 diabetes through dietary interventions. Highlights include discussion of the recent EASD guidelines, therapeutic diets, food types and processing, plus psychological factors that influence patient success, and the drivers of healthy eating and diabetes control.
Prof. Mike Lean
Prof. Falko Sniehotta
Image Credits