The virtues of fasting has spiritual, physical and psychological obvious, relieved the researcher and university Zafar Nomani, in an article published Saturday 22 by The Washington Post, in its electronic edition.
"What I discovered, along with other researchers, is that fasting has obvious benefits, both in spiritual and physical, psychological and social," said Zafar Nomani, Professor Emeritus of Nutrition University of West Virginia, and winner of the "Prix Hassan II" rewards the best scientific research and medical on Ramadan.
Professor Nomani, who has received this award at the First International Congress on "Health and Ramadan", held in Casablanca in 1994, explains that fasting during Ramadan "looks like, somehow, to a permanent annual educational workshop on how to become a better citizen of the world ".
Fasting, says he acts as a regulator which reminds us of the problems of poverty, drinking water resources in the world and encourages us to avoid overconsumption and waste of food.
Because "after all, too much food ends up being thrown in the garbage bags," laments this university who has conducted research on the nutritional consequences of the behavior during the fasting period on the organization of several volunteers in the United States and Pakistan.
"No eating, drinking and undesirable behavior makes the person more morally disciplined and less prone to unhealthy behavior," says he, noting that researchers in Jordan found a significant decrease in cases of para - suicide (suicide attempt will not die) during the month of Ramadan.
In Great Britain, fasting has been used by several health centers to reduce smoking rates, especially among people of African and Asian origin. Professor Nomani said however that there are choices for which one can opt for the practice of fasting is done more safely.
Scientific studies show that there are people who eat too much during Ramadan, which is a phenomenon that contradicts the essence of this holy month, sorry there, adding that studies show that health problems can result of an on-diet or a diet unbalanced.
"The human body has regulatory mechanisms that are activated during fasting, and therefore we do not need to overeat to provide our body the nutrients it needs," he says, noting that studies Scientists have shown that our body draws on stored reserves of fat to function normally during the period of fasting.
He added that other studies have shown that the basal metabolism of the person who fasts during Ramadan decline, concluding that one can be active and healthy during this period while having a diet less rich than usual but balanced in terms of nutrients.
