A study claims that people are dying because of intermittent fasting
This morning, the news is all over my social media feeds: It appears that a fad diet is deadly, according to a scientific study. A study discovered that intermittent fasting, commonly referred to as calorie restriction, carries a 91% increased risk of dying from cardiovascular disease.
However, scientific evidence contradicts that, so you shouldn’t waste brain energy worrying about this study or worrying about it in the first place. I was hurt even more by including that 91% figure, which you will recall, as I don’t think this outcome should be recalled.
Currently only available as a press release, the study belongs to a notoriously weak category of nutritional research. The study has been the subject of countless news stories, although it’s unclear from them if the reporters saw the data that the American Heart Association would be presenting at a forthcoming academic meeting.
So how can I, a science writer, disregard this research with such confidence? It is based on observational studies, and over two decades of covering health and medicine have taught me to be extremely wary of observational research, particularly when it comes to nutrition.
What more did the study reveal and how was it carried out?
Using information gathered for the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the American Heart Association conducted a study on almost 20,000 people in the United States between 2003 and 2018. According to the organization, the association monitored the eating habits of individuals who were 49 years of age on average and who recorded their food intake for a minimum of two days every year.
We then contrasted those data with the CDC’s mortality statistics for the same time. Of the participants, around half identified as female. Most of the participants, specifically over 73%, identified as non-Hispanic white adults, 11% as Hispanic, and 8% as non-Hispanic black adults. We gathered data on 6.9% of the population who self-identified as belonging to a different racial category.
The American Heart Association released the following details about the findings:
• Those who ate fewer than eight hours a day had a 91% higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease.
• People with cancer or heart disease also had an increased risk of dying from cardiovascular disease.
• Those with pre-existing cardiovascular disorders who ate between eight and ten hours per day showed a 66% increased risk of death from heart disease or stroke; intermittent fasting did not lower the overall risk of mortality from any cause.
• Eating for at least 16 hours a day reduces the chance of cancer death in individuals with the disease.
Experts say more research is necessary
This study did not consider every factor that affects general health. According to the American Heart Association, future studies aim to “examine the biological mechanisms that underlie the associations between a time-restricted eating schedule and adverse cardiovascular outcomes.” Understanding whether the results will be the same based on the participants’ global location is also necessary.
