Abdelgadir EI Elamin, Rashid Fauzia, Bashier MK Alaaeldin and Makeen A Suada
Objective: Many studies have evaluated the effect of Ramadan fasting on metabolic parameters. None of the previous studies compared the effect of fasting on people from different ethnic backgrounds. We conducted this prospective study to assess fasting Ramadan on Body Mass Index (BMI) and metabolic parameters in healthy volunteers from different ethnic backgrounds.
Methodology: We studied the effect of fasting during Ramadan on body mass index, fasting lipid profile, blood glucose and HBA1c in 49 healthy Muslim volunteers. These individuals belong to three different ethnicities; Pakistanis, Sudanese and Emiratis. The blood samples and anthropometric measurements were taken on two occasions; one week before Ramadan and the second was collected with in two weeks after Ramadan.
Results: There was a significant difference in body weight and BMI in all subjects of three nationalities at in of Ramadan fasting. There was no significant difference in fasting total cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL and LDL observed in Sudanese and Emiratis group, but subjects belong to Pakistani group showed statistically significant rise in total cholesterol by end of Ramadan. HDL has significantly reduced while total cholesterol has increased significantly in females compared to males. There were no reported hypoglycaemic events.
Conclusion: Fasting Ramadan led to a statistically significant reduction in weight and BMI in all participants in same model of fasting. Total cholesterol has increased significantly in the Pakistani group compared to other population at the end of Ramadan. We observed a statistically significant increase in the HDL in females in comparison to males by the end of Fasting Ramadan.