Fasting in Ramadan and Diabetes

Islam has five pillars. Observing Fast in Ramadan is one of the five pillars for adult Muslims worldwide. During fast, eating and drinking is prohibited which is not proven to be harmful for healthy persons [1]. A large survey revealed that 42.8% type-1 diabetes and 78.7% type2 diabetes patients fasted for two weeks [2]. Only few review articles are available on this concern. Original studies were included in this review including control period: i.e. data from control period consisting before and after Ramadan. Studies without involving controls were excluded. Most papers report survey data but very few report original clinical assays. One thing to account for is that Ramadan is a lunar month and happens 10-11 days earlier in every coming year. Which means, after each 9 years, it occurs in different season. The environmental conditions, temperature and length of fasting changes accordingly. This duration was not always cited in most of the studies.