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| LETTER TO EDITOR |
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| Year : 2021 | Volume
: 6
| Issue : 2 | Page : 219 |
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Ramadan fasting and immunity: Is Ramadan fasting safe for Iranian patients with COVID-19?
Shaghayegh Pezeshki1, Payam Hashemi2
1 Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
2 Faculty of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| Date of Submission | 05-Sep-2020 |
| Date of Decision | 01-Jan-2021 |
| Date of Acceptance | 01-Feb-2021 |
| Date of Web Publication | 08-Jan-2022 |
Correspondence Address:
Dr. Shaghayegh Pezeshki
Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Science, Tehran
Iran
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/bjhs.bjhs_92_20
How to cite this article:
Pezeshki S, Hashemi P. Ramadan fasting and immunity: Is Ramadan fasting safe for Iranian patients with COVID-19?. BLDE Univ J Health Sci 2021;6:219 |
Dear Sir,
Ramadan is a month of fasting for Muslims, on April 23. The appearance of Ramadan within the COVID-19 pandemic leads to patients and clinicians asking questions about the safety of fasting in Ramadan month. We research about the effects of fasting on different immune system mechanisms that we guess whether Ramadan fasting is safe for a patient or not?
Some studies demonstrated that macrophage activity, monocyte activity, the level of immunoglobulin A in the intestinal mucosa, and natural killer-cell activity were increased during fasting.[1]
Another study reported that the concentration of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin 6 (IL-6), IL-1β, and the number of total leukocytes, granulocytes, lymphocytes, and monocytes were significantly decreased during Ramadan in comparison to pre-Ramadan.[2]
On the other hand, fasting creates a greater risk of developing dehydration for severe COVID-19 patients, which may lead to fatigue and nausea.[3]
We suggest that a subgroup of patients with COVID-19 (they stay at home) may be intermittent fasting, this is an eating pattern that cycles between periods of fasting and eating and decreases the concentration of inflammatory cytokine such as TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1β, and may be Ramadan fasting in patients with intermediate symptoms which is safe although this issue needs more clinical research.[4]
Financial support and sponsorship
Nil.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
| References | |  |
| 1. | Develioglu ON, Kucur M, Ipek HD, Celebi S, Can G, Kulekci M. Effects of Ramadan fasting on serum immunoglobulin G and M, and salivary immunoglobulin A concentrations. J Int Med Res 2013;41:463-72.  |
| 2. | Adawi M, Watad A, Brown S, Aazza K, Aazza H, Zouhir M, et al. Ramadan fasting exerts immunomodulatory effects: Insights from a systematic review. Front Immunol 2017;8:1144. |
| 3. | Singhal T. A review of Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). Indian J Pediatr 2020;87:281-6. |
| 4. | There is No Problem with Fasting Even in COVID-19 Crisis: Senior Nutritionist Follow Iran Press on Twitter; 2020. p. 1-2.. |
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