Highlights from BYU Colleges: Research finds exercising while fasting helps the body reach ketosis faster, business student recognizes true success comes from family

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College of Life Sciences

Exercising at the beginning of a fast helps the body reach ketosis faster and produce 43% more B-hydroxybutyrate, BYU exercise science professor Bruce Bailey and Ph.D. student Landon Deru found in their study. (BYU Photo)

Many people are using variations of fasting to lose weight and improve metabolic health. BYU exercise science professor Bruce Bailey and Ph.D. student Landon Deru completed a study looking at how metabolism changes when exercising while fasting. Twenty healthy adult participants were asked to complete two 36-hour fasts while staying hydrated. After beginning with a standardized meal, the participants split off into exercise and no exercise groups. The study found that exercising intensely at the beginning of a fast helps the body reach ketosis an average of three and a half hours earlier and produce 43% more B-hydroxybutyrate than the body would have without the exercise.

“Everyone’s going to be a little grumpier when they fast, but we found that you aren’t going to feel worse with the intervention of exercise — with exercise, you can get these extra benefits and be the exact same amount of grumpy as you would be if you didn’t exercise,” Deru said.

College of Nursing

BYU professors Janelle Macintosh, Beth Luthy, Renea Beckstrand and several student research assistants have been working on vaccine research for more than ten years. As part of Macintosh’s research, she recently surveyed second and fourth semester BYU nursing students at the beginning and end of the semester and asked them questions about pediatric immunization schedules, their confidence and knowledge of immunizations and their ability to administer immunizations. Overall, Macintosh concluded that students knew more about which vaccines should be administered after attending pediatrics or public health classes.

As Macintosh is preparing to teach a pediatric nursing course, she is applying these findings to adjust her curriculum. “It’s exciting to say, ‘Hey, there was a hole— here’s this gap in our knowledge. Now we can do something about it because we’ve identified it,'” Macintosh said.

Marriott School of Business

BYU information systems student Gustavo Zioli is grateful for his family’s support as he pursues his career. (Marriott School of Business)

BYU information systems student Gustavo Zioli uses the skills he learned through the Marriott School of Business to help students successfully find careers after graduation. He collects and cleans data related to events from BYU Career Services and creates dashboards to display that data to help event organizers make better decisions. After graduating in April 2022, Zioli plans on working full-time for Amazon Web Services in Seattle, Washington. Taking care of his family remains a priority to Zioli, however, as he recognizes that family is where true success comes from.

“I am so excited to work at a company like Amazon that truly wants to solve business problems, and I feel especially lucky and grateful to be pursuing my career alongside my family,” Zioli said.

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