Intermittent fasting may actually be dangerous for your heart, new research finds
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New research suggests that intermittent fasting could lead to a higher risk of cardiovascular death in the long term.
The research found a person’s long-term risk of dying from cardiovascular disease nearly doubles under the popular weight loss strategy.
Intermittent fasting, also called time-restricted eating, limits the daylight hours in which calories can be consumed. Most commonly, the overnight fast is lengthened so the first meal isn’t consumed until 11 a.m. or noon, opening about an 8-hour eating window.
The study found an 8-hour time-restricted eating window linked to a 91% higher risk of cardiovascular death, according to the American Heart Association.
"Compared with a standard schedule of eating across 12-16 hours per day, limiting food intake to less than 8 hours per day was not associated with living longer," the association said.
The analysis also found time-restricted eating did not reduce the overall risk of death from any cause, and that the risk of cardiovascular death especially heightened among people with underlying cardiovascular disease or cancer.
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Researchers came to these findings after analyzing the health data of more than 20,000 U.S. adults over the course of 8-17 years and presented the findings Monday at the American Heart Association’s scientific sessions in Chicago.
Previous research, according to the association, has found that time-restricted eating improves several cardiometabolic health measures, such as blood pressure, blood glucose and cholesterol levels.
This story was reported from Detroit.