Influence of an intervention program promoting voluntary fasting practices and its perceived barriers among overweight or obese Muslim women working in the public sector, Malaysia

@#Introduction: This article aims to describe the effect of an intervention to promote the practice of voluntary Islamic fasting and its barriers among a group of overweight and obese Muslim women working in the public sector in Malaysia. Materials and methods: In this quasi-experimental study, an intervention to encourage voluntary fasting was delivered in a half day seminar, supported by relevant booklets prepared. A self-administered questionnaire was used to capture data on voluntary fasting practices and its perceived barriers before and four months after the intervention. Data was analysed using Mc Nemar test to compare the proportion before and after the intervention. Significant level was set at p<0.05. Results: A total of 56 women were recruited. Their mean age was 36.65 years, most were married, had formal education up to secondary level and median income of RM 3000 per month. At baseline, 60.7% of them have practiced voluntary fasting. After intervention, the number of participants who practices voluntary fasting increased with a significant increase in three types of voluntary fasting (i.e. Mondays only, Thursdays only and 6 days in Shawal). The highest barrier to practice voluntary fasting was having no motivation to do so, followed by work commitment, health problems and family commitment. Discussion and Conclusion: Most of the respondents could practice voluntary fasting regularly if motivated to do so and backed by social support both at work and at home.

Avaliação de um esquema de realimentação utilizado após 43 dias de jejum voluntário / Evaluation of a refeeding plan employed after 43 days of voluntary fasting

Objetivo: Avaliar um esquema de realimentação utilizado em pacientes após jejum prolongado voluntário. Métodos: Foi realizado estudo retrospectivo, com base em levantamento dos prontuários de 7 pacientes (média de idade de 41,6 anos e desvio-padrão=5,3) em jejum voluntário por 43 dias em jejum seguidos de 14 dias de realimentação. As variáveis estudadas foram: antropométricas, clínicas, dietéticas, laboratoriais e avaliação da composição corpórea por bioimpedância. Foram utilizadas as seguintes dietas por via oral na realimentação: oligomérica enriquecida com glutamina, associada à dieta hipogordurosa e isenta de lactose (primeira semana); dieta branda normolipídica com lactose (segunda semana). A análise descritiva dos dados apresentados incluiu média e desvio-padrão. A análise de variância ou o teste não paramétrico de Kruskal-Wallis foramutilizados para comparação dos dados nos períodos de jejum e realimentação. Utilizou-se o programa estatístico SIGMA STAT versão 2,03 sendo considerado o nível de significância de 5%. Resultados: No jejum houve redução significativa do peso corpóreo (18,0% desvio-padrão=2,3), da prega cutânea do tríceps (48,2% desvio-padrão=9,0) e da hemoglobina (15,98g/dL desvio-padrão=0,99 para 12,74g/dL desvio-padrão=0,47). Na segunda semana de realimentação houve aumento significativo na contagem total de linfócitos (954 mil/mm3 desvio-padrão=242 para 1.619 mil/mm3 desvio-padrão=232) e dos distúrbios gastrointestinais, em relação à primeira semana. Não ocorreu Síndrome da Realimentação. Conclusão O esquema de realimentação utilizado promoveu resultado global adequado, mas requer redução do aporte energético e definição de momento mais adequado para reintrodução de lactose e da dieta normolipídica.

Objective: To evaluate a refeeding plan employed in patients after a long period of voluntary fasting. Methods: A retrospective study was done by reviewing the medical records of 7 male patients (mean age of 42.0 years; standard deviation of 5.3 years) who were refed for 14 days after a 43-day fast. The studied variables were:clinical, anthropometric; biochemical and body composition by bioimpedance analysis. The following diets were used orally in the refeeding program: glutamine-enriched oligomeric diet associated with a low-fat lactose-free diet (first week); normal-fat diet with lactose (second week). Descriptive analysis of the data included mean and standard deviation. Analysis of variance or the non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare data during the fasting and refeeding periods. The SIGMA STAT statistics software package version 2.03 was used to analyze data with the significance level set at 5% (p<0.05). Results: During the fasting period there was a significant reduction in body weight (18.0%; standard deviation=2.3), triceps skinfold (48.2%; standard deviation=9.0) and hemoglobin concentration (from 15.98g/dL; standard deviation=0.99 to 12.74g/dL; standard deviation=0.47). During the second week of refeeding, there was a significant increase in total lymphocyte count (from 954 thousand/mm3; standard deviation=242 to 1.619 thousand/mm3; standard deviation=232); and gastrointestinal problems when compared with the first week. No case of refeeding syndrome was observed.Conclusion The refeeding program used promoted a satisfactory global result but it is necessary to reduce energy intakeand define the best moment to reintroduce lactose and a normal-fat diet.