Does Fasting Help detox THC?
Intermittent fasting can significantly help detox THC. It will improve the burning of fat and release THC into the blood for removal.
Fasting will also improve the liver metabolism of THC.
Now we’ll explain how exactly intermittent fasting helps to detox THC faster.
How we can detox THC faster
As we already explained – there are three ways to improve THC detoxification:
- You can burn more body fat. This will release THC metabolites stored in fat cells for removal from the body.
- Improve THC metabolism in the liver by inducing CYP450 enzymes.
- Prevent the reabsorption of THC metabolites from the intestines back into the blood.
The only way Intermittent fasting can help is to burn more body fat. So let’s have a look if it is effective for that.
Does intermittent fasting help to burn more fat and release THC into the blood?
Many studies confirmed that intermittent fasting is effective for losing weight.
According to this study, IF reduced body weight by 3–8% over 3–24 weeks
This research shows that intermittent fasting may produce weight loss at a rate of approximately 0.55 to 1.65 pounds (0.25–0.75 kg) per week
Intermittent fasting also affects insulin levels. Insulin levels increase when you eat, and when you fast, they decrease dramatically. Lower levels of insulin improve fat burning.
IF makes your nervous system sends norepinephrine to your fat cells, causing them to break down body fat into free fatty acids that can be burned for energy.
So, intermittent fasting will help you to burn more body fat and detox from THC.
But it is important to realize that without exercise, weight loss will usually come from a loss of both fat mass and muscle mass. Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17075583
So you need to add some exercise to your daily routine to make THC detoxification more efficient.
You can add weight training or cardio exercises.
This study has shown that weight training can help prevent muscle loss when you are losing weight.
Other research on alternate-day fasting has shown that 25–40 minutes of exercise on a bike or elliptical three times per week can help maintain lean mass during weight loss.
It’s not necessary to add exercises, but it will make your THC detox more efficient.
Fasting and THC metabolizing enzymes
The study has shown that short-term fasting increased several enzymes’ activity: CYP1A2, CYP2C19, CYP2D6, CYP3A4. And decreased the activity of CYP2C9.
What does that mean?
Among these enzymes, CYP3A4 and CYP2C9 are the enzymes involved in THC metabolism.
As we see, the activity of CYP3A4 was improved, which means the THC will be metabolized and excreted faster during fasting.
On the other side, the activity of CYP2C9 was decreased. However, we can ignore this fact because CYP2C9 is responsible for metabolizing THC into metabolites removed with the urine.
But about 70% of the THC metabolites are removed with feces. And CYP3A4 enzyme is responsible for that.
So fasting also helps to improve the liver metabolism of THC.
If you need to detox THC, read our guide here: THC Detox Guide. How To Get Weed Out Of Your System