Eating within 8 hours, commonly known as the 16:8 diet, is a popular form of fasting
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Restricting eating to eight hours a day (a popular form of intermittent fasting) increases the risk of death from heart disease. But some scientists believe that people with pre-existing health conditions may unknowingly choose intermittent fasting if their symptoms or treatments affect their appetite, and that the quality of our diet may be more important than when we eat. .
Time-restricted eating has previously been linked to improved health. blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol levelbut its long-term effects are unclear.
learn more, Zhong Wenze A professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China and his colleagues studied about 20,000 adults, roughly evenly split between men and women, who took part in the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Their average age is 49, and less than three-quarters are non-Hispanic white.
Participants in the survey self-reported their dietary information each year from 2003 to 2018. The researchers then compared it with death records from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 2003 to 2019. Participants were only included if they were 20 years or older and completed two dietary questionnaires within the first year of the survey.
Over an average of eight years of follow-up, the team found that despite the frequent praise for intermittent fasting, people who ate eight hours a day did not live longer than those who ate during the traditional 12 to 16 hours. for its longevity benefits.
The researchers also found that those who followed the eight-hour eating plan were 91 percent more likely to die from heart disease during the follow-up period than those who ate for more than 12 to 16 hours.
For people who had been diagnosed with heart disease before the study, those who ate for more than 8 to 10 hours had a 66 percent increased risk of death from heart disease compared with those who ate for more than 12 to 16 hours. Among people diagnosed with cancer, those who ate for more than 16 hours had a lower risk of death from cancer than those who strictly limited their eating hours.
Chung said the study, presented at the American Heart Association (AHA) Epidemiology and Prevention Meeting in Chicago, does not prove that time-restricted eating caused these deaths.
It’s important to consider why participants practiced time-restricted eating, says Benjamin Horn at the Intermountain Heart Institute in Salt Lake City, Utah. Some people may adopt this pattern intentionally, he said, while others may limit their eating times due to a medical condition or treatment that affects their appetite.
Some may also limit their eating plans due to limited access to food, say Jo Ann Carson, former chairman of the AHA Nutrition Committee.research shows Food insecurity linked to unhealthy lifestyles leading to heart disease. “We also know nothing about the healthiness of the food they eat,” Carson said.
The authors acknowledge in their paper that their study relied on self-reported dietary information, which may not be accurate. They plan to investigate whether these findings apply to a wider range of ethnic groups and how fasting may increase the risk of harmful health outcomes.
People who want to reduce their likelihood of premature death “should aim for an overall heart-healthy eating pattern, regardless of the time of day they eat,” Carson said. Those looking to start intermittent fasting should talk to their doctor beforehand, Horn said.
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