A popular way of losing weight may have a connection to cardiovascular diseases.
The researchers looked at a group of 20,000 adults. Adobe Stock / AOP
Intermittent fasting people are 91 percent more likely to develop cardiovascular disease and die than those who do not fast or use other fasting techniques, a new study claims.
Worrying findings are related to the 16/8 day fast. The name comes from the fact that the fasting person is allowed to eat for eight hours a day and fasts for the remaining 16 hours.
Intermittent fasting — where people intentionally restrict their daily caloric intake — has become a trendy way to lose weight, improve cholesterol, increase metabolism and potentially reduce the risk of certain chronic diseases.
However, a new study presents another point of view, in which intermittent fasting would have bad long-term health effects. The findings are recent and will be presented at the EPI|Lifestyle Scientific Sessions 2024 in Chicago. They have not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Researchers looked at a group of 20,000 adults who answered questions about their eating habits between 2003 and 2018 in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES).
The researchers found that participants who practiced 16/8-day fasting were 91 percent more likely to die from cardiovascular disease than those who did not practice such fasting.
The researchers also reported that those who already had cardiovascular disease at the start of the study and who got all their calories within 8 to 10 hours also had a 66 percent higher risk of dying from heart disease and stroke.
The study also did not find that limiting food intake to eight hours would have increased life years.
Although the study is comprehensive and individuals were followed for 8–17 years, the results should still be viewed critically.
The study’s findings contradict many previous studies that have found benefits of intermittent fasting for cardiovascular health and metabolism.
Due to their nature, research based on observations cannot verify cause or effect.
Dietary habit data were collected from people over 20 years of age who had completed two diet-related questionnaires during the first year of enrollment. In the survey, you had to report your own eating behavior over a 24-hour period.
The surprising findings can also be explained by the fact that there may be basic differences between the persons studied.
Very few long-term studies have been done on intermittent fasting.
The title was clarified on 26 March 2024 at 11:42. Added clarification to the title, according to which Pätkäpaasto can increase the risk of death by 91 percent.
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