This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit a related Letter to the Editor Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Copyright Permission Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Iraki, L. Articles by Touitou, Y. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Iraki, L. Articles by Touitou, Y.

Ramadan Diet Restrictions Modify the Circadian Time Structure in Humans. A Study on Plasma Gastrin, Insulin, Glucose, and Calcium and on Gastric pH¹

Hassan II Foundation for Scientific and Medical Research on Ramadan (L.I., F.H.), Faculté de Médecine et de Pharmacie, Casablanca, Morocco; Service de Biochimie (A.B., Y.T.), Faculté de Médecine Pitié-Salpêtrière, 75013 Paris, France; Service d’Exploration Fonctionnelle Digestive (N.A.), Hôpital Ibn Sina, Souissi, Rabat, Morocco; and Hôpital Bnou Rochd (A.A.), Service de P3, Casablanca, Morocco

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Pr Yvan Touitou, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine Pitié-Salpêtrière, 91 Bd de l’Hôpital, 75013 Paris, France.

The rule of Ramadan (1 month of food and water intakes re-stricted to night hours) is followed by the majority of the Moslem fraction of the human population, but the possible consequences of this long-lasting modification of food intake schedule on public health have not yet been extensively documented. Therefore, a group of healthy control subjects and a group of healed duodenal ulcer patients were studied before (controls), during (both groups), and after (both groups) the month of Ramadan. The time-restricted food and water intakes were associated with variations of gastric pH, plasma gastrin, insulin, glucose, and calcium documented on a circadian basis. All of the studied biological variables, except insulin, underwent changes in their 24-h mean concentration (e.g. decrease in gastric pH, increase in plasma gastrin), some of which were still present 1 month after the end of Ramadan. The circadian patterns of all the studied variables were altered during the month of Ramadan. Some differences between the group of healthy control subjects and the group of healed duodenal ulcer patients may suggest a greater susceptibility of the latter to the modifications of feeding and sleeping schedule, which could possibly be a risk factor for the disease.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				I. Tazi Ramadan and Cancer J. Clin. Oncol., November 20, 2008; 26(33): 5485 - 5485. [Full Text] [PDF]

				N. W. G. Lambrecht, I. Yakubov, and G. Sachs Fasting-induced changes in ECL cell gene expression Physiol Genomics, October 19, 2007; 31(2): 183 - 192. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				F. Kreier, Y. S. Kap, T. C. Mettenleiter, C. van Heijningen, J. van der Vliet, A. Kalsbeek, H. P. Sauerwein, E. Fliers, J. A. Romijn, and R. M. Buijs Tracing from Fat Tissue, Liver, and Pancreas: A Neuroanatomical Framework for the Role of the Brain in Type 2 Diabetes Endocrinology, March 1, 2006; 147(3): 1140 - 1147. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				N Aadil, I E Houti, and S Moussamih Drug intake during Ramadan BMJ, October 2, 2004; 329(7469): 778 - 782. [Full Text] [PDF]

				E. Challet, S. Losee-Olson, and F. W. Turek Reduced glucose availability attenuates circadian responses to light in mice Am J Physiol Regulatory Integrative Comp Physiol, April 1, 1999; 276(4): R1063 - R1070. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]