INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
A new study has challenged the alleged health benefits of intermittent fasting, a popular diet often praised by celebrities and health gurus
alike.Intermittent fasting is a well-known practice in which you eat all your food in an eight-hour window and fast for the remaining 16
hours of the day.However, a study from the American Heart Association published on Monday, 18 March has found that limiting mealtimes to
just eight hours a day was linked to a 91 per cent increase in risk of death from heart disease.Researchers, led by Dr Victor Zhong of the
Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, analysed approximately 20,000 adults in the US with an average age of 49 years who had
Prevention conference in Chicago, Illinois - those who limited their eating to eight hours a day were 91 per cent more likely to die from
cardiovascular disease than those who ate across 12 or 16 hours.Among participants with existing cardiovascular disease, an eating duration
between eight and 10 hours per day was also associated with a 66 per cent higher risk of death from heart disease or stroke.Meanwhile,
people with cancer who ate for more than 16 hours a day were less likely to die from the disease
senior study author Dr Zhong
Even though this type of diet has been popular due to its potential short-term benefits, our research clearly shows that, compared with a
analysed data from participants in the 2003-2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, and compared it to the Centers for
acknowledged that the study was limited in its findings because it relied on self-reported dietary information, as well as failed to focus
benefits but long-term adverse effects
quality of the diets typical of the different subsets of participants
Without this information, it cannot be determined if nutrient density might be an alternate explanation to the findings that currently focus
on the window of time for eating
Second, it needs to be emphasised that categorisation into the different windows of time-restricted eating was determined on the basis of
Around 73 per cent of the participants were non-Hispanic white adults, while 11 per cent were Hispanic
be critical to see a comparison of demographics and baseline characteristics across the groups that were classified into the different
additional information will help to better understand the potential independent contribution of the short time-restricted eating pattern
obesity who participated in intermittent fasting, compared to traditional calorie counting
The results, which were published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, found that those who engaged in eight-hour time restricted
eating had improved insulin sensitivity compared to those in the control group who ate their calories any time over 10 or more hours a
day.Source: The Independent-Agencies
