Table 3.
Serum and faecal biochemistry
(Mean values and standard deviations)
| Parameter | Pre-fasting | End of fasting | 3 d after | After 3 months | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean | sd | Mean | sd | P | Mean | sd | P | Mean | sd | P | |
| Serum biochemistry | |||||||||||
| Erythrocytes (106/μl) | 5·22 | 0·55 | 5·16 | 0·40 | NS | 5·03 | 0·41 | NS | 5·23 | 0·48 | NS |
| Hb (mmol/l) | 9·48 | 0·76 | 9·36 | 0·45 | NS | 9·10 | 0·52 | * | 9·39 | 0·59 | NS |
| Haematocrit (%) | 44·90 | 3·27 | 43·64 | 2·33 | NS | 43·75 | 2·93 | NS | 44·79 | 3·00 | NS |
| Leucocytes (103/μl) | 6·01 | 1·38 | 4·37 | 1·18 | *** | 3·98 | 0·93 | *** | 5·5 | 1·45 | NS |
| MCV (fl) | 86·34 | 4·19 | 84·75 | 3·35 | NS | 87·09 | 3·06 | NS | 85·89 | 4·25 | NS |
| Thrombocytes (103/μl) | 234·93 | 42·28 | 247·53 | 41·85 | NS | 247·13 | 52·04 | NS | 258·43 | 42·36 | * |
| Inflammation parameters in blood | |||||||||||
| IFNγ (pg/ml) | 78·77 | 89·43 | 107·36 | 70·09 | NS | 173·95 | 43·82 | *** | 43·04 | 21·34 | NS |
| IL-10 (pg/ml) | 24·47 | 14·05 | 19·67 | 7·91 | NS | 34·85 | 12·06 | *** | 21·88 | 12·99 | NS |
| IL-6 (pg/ml) | 12·57 | 10·6 | 17·83 | 7·89 | NS | 28·42 | 7·01 | *** | 13·69 | 7·03 | NS |
| TNFα (pg/ml) | 71·68 | 79·26 | 111·03 | 71·82 | NS | 165·01 | 56·9 | *** | 40·41 | 21·93 | NS |
| LBP (μg/l) | 11·82 | 2·51 | 9·78 | 3·80 | ** | 9·58 | 2·62 | ** | 11·01 | 1·72 | NS |
| LPS (pg/ml) | 15·03 | 16·29 | 12·23 | 13·35 | NS | 8·93 | 11·11 | NS | 8·88 | 11·65 | NS |
| Inflammation parameters in faeces | |||||||||||
| sIgA (ng/ml) | 1860·35 | 1557·2 | 2812·33 | 2544·79 | NS | 3807·01 | 3013·58 | ** | 1642·06 | 1148·3 | NS |
| EDN (ng/ml) | 404·69 | 305·63 | 1176·75 | 708·56 | *** | 676·6 | 701·13 | NS | 437·86 | 360·56 | NS |
| β-Defensin (ng/ml) | 39·17 | 47·39 | 61·23 | 50·28 | NS | 30·78 | 27·31 | NS | 56·46 | 89·87 | NS |
| Lysozyme (ng/ml) | 555·93 | 304·06 | 961·33 | 572·01 | * | 1183 | 658·06 | ** | 532·07 | 236·42 | NS |
| Lactoferrin (μg/g) | 1·7 | 1·7 | 4·3 | 12·1 | NS | 4·8 | 12·6 | NS | 1·8 | 1·8 | NS |
| Calprotectin (μg/g) | 29·3 | 22·2 | 40·7 | 71·2 | NS | 69·3 | 180·6 | NS | 26·9 | 14·2 | NS |
| Bile acid (μmol/100 ml) | 287·84 | 231·04 | 192·11 | 131·64 | NS | 212·13 | 117·87 | NS | 291·22 | 235·97 | NS |
| Gut permeability parameters in faeces | |||||||||||
| Zonulin (ng/ml) | 74·21 | 47·69 | 95·94 | 107·33 | NS | 94·13 | 114·01 | NS | 107·50 | 76·05 | NS |
| α-1-Antitrypsin (mg/l) | 394 | 232 | 520 | 343 | NS | 441 | 389 | NS | 401 | 218 | NS |
| Microbial energy metabolism | |||||||||||
| Acetate (mm) | 63·8 | 48·3 | 54·3 | 33·6 | NS | 65·9 | 58·3 | NS | 100·9 | 59·4 | * |
| Butyrate (mm) | 6·7 | 6·7 | 4·8 | 3·1 | NS | 4·2 | 4·8 | NS | 15·1 | 13·2 | ** |
| i-Butyrate (mm) | 1·8 | 1·8 | 1·4 | 1·1 | NS | 0·7 | 0·7 | ** | 1·7 | 1·1 | NS |
| Propionate (mm) | 9·5 | 7·4 | 8·5 | 4·7 | NS | 9·6 | 10·7 | NS | 17·3 | 12·8 | * |
| Valerate (mm) | 2·7 | 2·6 | 2·0 | 1·6 | NS | 1·0 | 1·2 | ** | 2·6 | 1·9 | NS |
| i-Valerate (mm) | 1·1 | 0·8 | 1·0 | 0·5 | NS | 0·6 | 0·8 | NS | 1·8 | 1·2 | ** |
| BCAA (μmol/l) | 486·58 | 86·66 | 575·09 | 99·24 | *** | 455·51 | 67·79 | NS | 403·95 | 70·35 | *** |
MCV, mean corpuscular volume; IFNγ, interferon γ; LBP, lipopolysaccharide-binding protein; LPS, lipopolysaccharides; sIgA, secretory IgA, EDN, eosinophil-derived neurotoxin; BCAA, branched-chain amino acids.
Significantly different at end of fasting in comparison with pre-fasting baseline levels: *P < 0·05, **P < 0·01, ***P < 0·001 (ANOVA).