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I recently received several emails from readers across the country about “shocking” research studies. The headline screamed, “Intermittent fasting is associated with increased risk of death from heart disease.”
To say I was stunned when I saw this headline would be an understatement.
Why was intermittent fasting, a highly effective diet that reduces heart disease risk factors such as excess body fat, high blood pressure, and high blood sugar, suddenly found to promote heart disease? So what does this mean? There was no.
I have personal experience with intermittent fasting for several years with great success, and I have received hundreds of testimonials from people who have experienced even greater benefits. Additionally, I’ve written over a dozen columns on intermittent fasting over the past few years.
I also heard from people who informed me, based on personal experience, that intermittent fasting doesn’t work. If you follow up to find out why it didn’t work, it’s always because you didn’t fast long enough or you weren’t really fasting.
For fasting to be effective, it must last at least 16 hours. However, research has shown that the best results are obtained after 18 hours. This is a tall order for most people and requires gradual progress toward long-term daily fasting. However, once you “decide” to fast without exception and go through a 2-4 week adjustment phase, it becomes second nature.
In my case, I started with 16-hour fasts and gradually progressed to 20-hour fasts daily over about a year.
If you start to feel hungry, which is rare, drink water, black coffee, or unsweetened tea and continue your fast. Then we have dinner around 6pm and continue eating until around 10pm.
Ironically, now that I’m eating more, my results are still incredible, and at age 77 I’ve regained the six-pack belly I had when I was younger, and even lost my love handles. It also includes. Also, ironically, weight management wasn’t the reason I chose intermittent fasting. I was drawn to several other health benefits. These include increased production of human growth hormone, increased immune function, and increased autophagy (which removes old cells and replaces them with new, better-functioning cells).
Does intermittent fasting promote heart disease?
Okay, let me get off my soapbox and change gears. Much has been written about the positive effects of intermittent fasting when done correctly, so new articles are often viewed with an “hmmm” attitude. In contrast, it would be big news if we declared that intermittent fasting is not only ineffective, but promotes heart disease.
When I see something like this, the first question I ask is who will benefit, and secondly, who will welcome this news? As for who will benefit, consider that weight loss is a big focus in the United States, with several big drug companies touting the benefits of prescription drugs. Also, consider the frum diet, which has become big business. These people don’t want you to do intermittent fasting for two reasons. First, it’s inexpensive, and second, it’s effective.
As for who would welcome this news, it is human nature for everyone who has tried and failed at intermittent fasting to welcome bad news about it. That way, you won’t have to look in the mirror and admit that you lack motivation, discipline, and tenacity. Rather, they are relieved that they avoided a bullet by not engaging in “dangerous” activities.
How was this new intermittent fasting study conducted?
The study was conducted by Chinese researchers at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, based on death records obtained from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Researchers found that during a follow-up period from 2003 to 2018, people who followed an 8-hour eating schedule were 91% more likely to die from heart disease than those who ate for 12 to 16 hours or more. reported that it was high.
That sounds impressive until you look behind the curtain.
Since 1973, I have conducted research and published well over 100 research papers in peer-reviewed journals. I have taught courses on research methods and data analysis and supervised countless graduate and undergraduate research papers. When I looked into this research report, some obvious negative facts jumped out. for example:
- This study has not been peer-reviewed. That is, it has not been evaluated in any way.
- A control strategy, a core requirement of genuine research, is missing.
- All data is based on instructions and inconsistent “self-reported” information, so its accuracy is questionable.
- There is no evidence that the subjects were “really” fasting, and if they were, for how long.
- There is no information as to “why” the participants fasted. Perhaps they had limited access to food, but that has nothing to do with their choice of intermittent fasting.
- There is no way to know if a participant has a condition that interferes with their appetite and causes them to eat less frequently or in smaller quantities. This is a problem because for these people, restrictive diets are definitely detrimental to their health and have nothing to do with the concept of fasting.
- Nothing is known about the healthfulness of the food consumed.
The results of this study are vague correlations at best and prove nothing. I think it would be completely irresponsible to know this general information and jump to the conclusion that intermittent fasting contributes to death from heart disease.
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