Ray to the Sun God and your soul won’t be the only thing at peace. Your health will be too.

The arduous fast vratis undertake during Chhath leaves a mark on their health, many doctors in the city believe. It’s a great way to detox, they say.

Patna-based physician Diwakar Tejaswi said: “Chhath has a great detoxifying effect on the body. Accumulated fat and bad cholesterol break down during the long hours of fasting. The fatty plaques in the artery that can trigger heart attacks also break down. In a nutshell, the body is rid of all the non-beneficial matter.”

Chhath, the most revered festival in the state, begins with Nahay Khay. The vrati (the person who fasts) takes a dip in the Ganga (or sprinkles Ganga jal for purification if s/he chooses to bathe at home) and feeds on a simple fare of arwa chawal (rice) and pumpkin — prepared on a handmade earthen oven. Use of onions and garlic is a strict no-no, salt, if used, has to be sendha (rock) salt. On Kharna, the second day, the vrati fasts the entire day and has prasad of kheer and roti in the evening. Again starts the fast that ends on the fourth day of Chhath — Doosri Arghya.

“Some doctors are of the opinion that prolonged fasting during Chhath has an adverse impact on the body but bad cholesterol, which is also in the form of fatty liver, actually breaks down in the course of the fast. Our body draws energy from the fat for metabolism. In the process, bad cholesterol is replaced by healthy fat. But again, it’s not as if the devotee concerned fasts for four consecutive days. On Nahay Khay, the devotee has satvik food (prepared without onion and garlic) and on the second day prasad made with jaggery and rice,” Tejaswi said.

His mother, paediatrician Kiran Sharan, agrees on the virtues of fasting during Chhath. Observing the puja for the past 43 years, she makes it a point to visit her clinic during the festival. “I have never felt fatigued. The confidence level of devotees grows so much at this time that they forget everything around them,” said 76-year-old Sharan.

Praying to the Sun God also allows the devotees to absorb Vitamin D.

Tejaswi said: “Sunlight is a rich source of Vitamin D. Chhath rituals are such, devotees end up exposing themselves to sunlight, which allows them to get the required Vitamin D.” He, however, warned diabetics and heart patients against observing Chhath. “Fasting is risky for heart patients and even dangerous for diabetics. They need to maintain the right level of sugar in their body, but when fasting accumulated protein in the body starts breaking up and transforming into glucose. This leads to ketosis, a state in which the body burns fat at an extremely high rate. Diabetics might go into coma at this stage,” Tejaswi said.

Not every doctor in town is sold on Chhath’s health benefits.

Dr V.P. Sinha of Patna Medical College and Hospital said: “According to Ayurveda, fasting is good but fasting for days on end is not good at all. There are no health benefits associated with a devotee fasting on Chhath.”

R.R. Choudhary, head of department of medicine, Nalanda Medical College and Hospital, concurred: “Fasting for a long period cannot be good for the body at all. As Chhath involves fasting for a long duration, it affects the body. During fasts, the body usually gets some rest. But during Chhath, the long hours can leave devotees dehydrated, as they can’t even drink water. The body is like a machine that requires fuel all the time. Food is a fuel for our body but during Chhath, devotees abstain from food and water for a prolonged period. It can affect the body mechanism.”