Graham Elliot L, Weir Tiffany L, Gentile Christopher L
Integrative Cardiovascular Physiology Laboratory, Intestinal Health Laboratory, Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Colorado State University, Fort Collins.
Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2025 May;45(5):654-668. doi: 10.1161/ATVBAHA.125.322692. Epub 2025 Apr 3.
Vascular function is a critical determinant of cardiovascular health and all-cause mortality. Recent studies have suggested that intermittent fasting, a popular dietary strategy, elicits beneficial effects on vascular function. These studies also suggest that fasting-mediated improvements in vascular function coincide with reductions in systemic inflammation. However, the mechanisms that connect fasting, the immune system, and vascular function remain largely underexplored. The current review summarizes the effects of different intermittent fasting modalities on vascular health, focusing on endothelial dysfunction and arterial stiffness, 2 critical indices of vascular function. Improvements in vascular function are associated with reduced inflammation and are mechanistically linked to decreased circulating immune cells and their accumulation within the vascular wall and perivascular tissue. Recent data show that fasting redistributes circulating and tissue-resident immune cells to the bone marrow, affecting their inflammatory actions. However, there is no direct evidence relating immune cell redistribution to cardiovascular health. By relating fasting-induced immune cell redistribution to reduced inflammation and improved vascular function, we propose an exciting avenue of further exploration is determining whether fasting-induced immune cell redistribution impacts cardiovascular health.
血管功能是心血管健康和全因死亡率的关键决定因素。最近的研究表明，间歇性禁食作为一种流行的饮食策略，对血管功能具有有益影响。这些研究还表明，禁食介导的血管功能改善与全身炎症的减轻同时出现。然而，连接禁食、免疫系统和血管功能的机制在很大程度上仍未得到充分探索。本综述总结了不同间歇性禁食模式对血管健康的影响，重点关注内皮功能障碍和动脉僵硬度这两个血管功能的关键指标。血管功能的改善与炎症减轻相关，并且在机制上与循环免疫细胞减少及其在血管壁和血管周围组织中的积聚有关。最近的数据表明，禁食会将循环和组织驻留免疫细胞重新分配到骨髓，影响它们的炎症作用。然而，没有直接证据表明免疫细胞重新分配与心血管健康有关。通过将禁食诱导的免疫细胞重新分配与炎症减轻和血管功能改善联系起来，我们提出一个令人兴奋的进一步探索途径是确定禁食诱导的免疫细胞重新分配是否会影响心血管健康。
