From all over the world, a total of 50 medical research papers were presented by Muslim and non-Muslim scientists and scholars of the medical practice in the first International Congress on “Health and Ramadan” in Casablanca in 1994.
Results of a medical research attributed to Turkish physician Shahid Athar, state: “(One) effect of fasting includes the lowering of blood sugar, cholesterol and of the systolic blood pressure. In fact, Ramadan fasting would be an ideal recommendation for treatment of mild to moderate, stable, noninsulin diabetes; obesity and essential hypertension.”
Athar said: “Diabetics know that stress increases the blood glucose by increasing the catecholamine level, and any tool to lower the stress … improves diabetic control. Thus, Islamic fasting during Ramadan should have a potentially beneficial effect with regard to diabetic control.”
Fasting during Ramadan is one of the so-called “five pillars” of the Islamic faith.