Medically supervised water-only fasting in the treatment of hypertension.

Medically supervised water-only fasting therapy may be a safe and effective treatment for hypertension.

This study was carried out to determine the efficacy of medically supervised water-only fasting in the treatment of hypertension. 174 hypertensive patients with blood pressure higher than 140/90 mm Hg were placed on a water-only fasting therapy administered by trained medical personnel in a clinic for 18-21 days. This treatment program comprised three stages: 2-3 day pre-fasting period (only fruits and vegetables were consumed by patients during this stage), 10-11 day water-only fasting period, and 6-7 day re-feeding period (the subjects were fed with low fat, low sodium vegan diet).

At the end of the treatment program, researchers found out that the blood pressure of about 90% of the subjects had reduced. This therapy was observed to be most effective in patients with more severe hypertension. It had an average reduction rate of 37/13 mm Hg in subjects with blood pressure of 140/90 mm Hg and 60/17 mm Hg in patients with stage 3 hypertension (>180/110 mm Hg). All the patients on medication successfully stopped taking their drugs at the end of the therapy. The result of this study re-enforces the view that medically supervised water-only fasting is a potent therapy for treating hypertension.