This morning, this news was all over my social news feeds. Scientific research shows that popular fad diets are clearly deadly. Specifically, one study found that calorie restriction, also known as intermittent fasting, was associated with a 91% higher risk of death from cardiovascular disease.

However, scientific studies say no such thing. Not only should you not worry about this study, you should not waste your brain glucose thinking about it. It pained me to even include the 91% number, which you probably remember, because I don’t think this result should be remembered.

The study, a type of nutritional research, is notoriously fragile and is currently only being published as a press release.

Part of the problem, the obvious part, is that people who answer surveys aren’t always completely honest. More than that, especially when it comes to food, we often misremember what and how much we ate. For example, we may think we’ve followed our diet, but completely forget when we failed.

But the bigger problem is that people who choose to go on a diet, or stay on a diet, may be fundamentally different from those who don’t in ways we can’t measure. Perhaps people go on time-restricted diets because they are concerned about their health.

This is an excerpt.Read the full article here