Is intermittent fasting (IF) bad for your health?
Headlines, scare tactics and what you need to know about this study.
If you conduct an online search for intermittent fasting and heart disease, most of the first page is based on a new study that has yet to be published.
NYT headline is “Is IF bad for your heart?”
STATNEWS headline “A study says IF is making people drop dead…”
British Heart Foundation “Can IF double your risk of dying..”
and from the Washington Post, “The IF trend may pose risks to your heart.”
All that hype over a study that has not been peer-reviewed or published yet?
Why all the hype? (I will get to the critical
“why” question at the end of this post)
New research via the American Heart Association that has not been peer-reviewed or published yet is making these headlines.
All that has been released is their poster presentation and the abstract. We cannot see the full details of this study yet, but that does not stop mainstream news from shouting from rooftops about the dangers of IF.
Let’s look at what we know so far about this study:
They used the NHANES database to collect dietary information from 20,000 people. Based on the poster information, 414 of the 20,000 participants indicated they ate within an 8-hour window of time or less.
You can see all the broken-down categories on the poster page here.
NHANES is a longitudinal study database that follows people over time. It is accessible to the public, and many of my peers have used this data for their dissertations.
The authors of this new study examined participants’ dietary recall information for two days, collected from NHANES data from 2003 to 2018. They then compared this information to data collected from people who died in the US from 2003 to 2019.
They used multivariable Cox proportional hazard models, which are used to determine the length of time to reach an event such as CVD, cancer, or death.
The researchers acknowledged that self-reported dietary information is typically not an accurate assessment of typical eating patterns.
If there were an incentive to participate, such as money, many people might fill out the survey “willy nilly” just to get their compensation.
Other people may put down what they think the researcher wants to see on the survey or what they think would look like a healthy diet, but not what they really eat.
They based the results on two days of IF data and did not examine the food quality during that fasting period.
Two days of IF does not tell us really anything.
Two days of IF without knowing the dietary ingredients also tells us very little.
When it comes to surveys about what you eat, how much you eat, exercise, and alcohol consumption, take that information with a grain of salt because it is littered with inaccuracies you have no way of knowing about.
Still, the researchers concluded that:
“An eating duration of more than 16 hours per day was associated with a lower risk of cancer mortality among people with cancer.”
My comments: People with cancer who are on chemotherapy struggle to eat, maintain muscle mass, and lose weight. In this case, people using the standard-of-care cancer model who eat more frequently may have better outcomes. They may avoid detrimental weight and muscle loss compared to those following the same standard-of-care chemotherapy procedures and not eating.
People who ate within/under an 8-hour window had a 91% increased risk of death due to CVD.
My comments: How can this be determined on two days of eating in a less than 8-hour window? What was the food consumed? How many calories? Was this just two days of missing or skipping meals and consuming the standard American diet, or was this mindful and healthy fasting?
People who already had CVD and ate for less than 10 hours per day had a 66% increase in risk of death via CVD or stroke.
My comments: Many people with metabolic syndrome, CVD, obesity, or type 2 diabetes are also the same people who skip meals but then crave simple carbs and sugar because their blood sugar has dipped so low, and they then consume large quantities of fast food and junk food.
When I used to work in LTC, nurses, and the aides often arrived at work for the day shift between 6-7:30 (depending on the facility I was at). They were frequently rushed and skipped breakfast. By 10 am, they would have that blood sugar rush, and they needed sugar and simple carbs ASAP. I know this because, as a social worker or working in the activities department, there were often snacks on hand for the residents, so the staff would come in begging for a donut, cookie, or muffin.
Most (not all) of these staff members were at least overweight. This diet, according to NHANES, may be called IF. As a nutritionist, this is NOT IF, but it may look like it on paper since they “skipped” breakfast.
Eating within a 12-to-16-hour window did not increase mortality compared to the less than 8-hour IF window.
Twelve hours is a fundamental healthy fast that everyone should follow. If you eat dinner at 6:30, maybe have a light snack at 8 p.m., and then do not eat again until 8 a.m., this is not even considered fasting in my book—this is what we all should be doing (with obviously a few exceptions).
But in today’s society, we eat all day long. According to these researchers, eating for 16 hours a day is healthy!
This is absurd!
Does that mean you eat until you sleep, hop out of bed after 8 hours, and resume eating again?
Seriously?
The Difference Between Skipping a Meal and Intermittent Fasting.
(No, they are not the same thing).
Just because you skip a meal (usually breakfast) does not mean you are IF.
I only add in IF days for my clients who are already consuming a healthy, balanced diet void of junk food, fake food, fast food, and processed food.
If a person is eating the Standard American Junk Food/Crap Food diet, they should not IF! This can throw your blood sugar into chaos with massive highs and lows.
First, these people need to learn how to eat healthily. Once their blood sugar is balanced and they have removed the fake food, they can introduce an IF day or two.
We have no clue if those who completed the dietary surveys mindfully watched what they ate and added in IF on the two days of data gathered or if they skipped a meal and ate junk food.
Please do not be swayed by this yet-to-be-published study!
Look For The Patterns! (The “Why”)
Previous Pattern:
I recently posted about the new niacin study indicating that niacin is very dangerous for cardiovascular health. However, that same study did not share details on how much niacin people consumed and whether it was from real food, synthetic enriched/fortified foods, or supplements. These authors were also skeptical of the new niacin study.
Then, conveniently, right around the same time, there was information that a new drug was coming to market in the near future to reduce Lp(a), a genetic risk factor for CVD.
Hmm, numerous previous studies indicate that niacin can lower Lp (a), thus reducing CVD risk in those individuals, yet doctors rarely test Lp(a) with the rationale that there is “nothing” for Lp (a) reduction available.
So, to recap, they bashed niacin, scared you into not taking it, and will now start testing for Lp (a) because they will soon have a pharmaceutical answer for this elevated biomarker.
So, is there a reason for the niacin scare tactic? I will let you decide.
The Pattern Related to This New Not-Yet Published Study
How convenient is this information on IF and mortality so soon after the Medscape article about new drugs coming your way that will build muscle and help maintain a healthy weight so that you never have to leave your chair or stop eating junk food all day long?
This new unpublished study suggests you can eat all day for 16 hours and reduce mortality.
Then there is a new Medscape article that I just came across, posted on Feb 22, 2024, titled “Food as medicine: A great idea that didn’t work.” (I will post on this study as soon as I get a chance).
Can you see the pattern?
Eat all day long, do not diet (I don’t believe in dieting anyhow), and here, take these pills instead.
They are setting you up to inch you closer to unhealthy and mindless. I am sure you see these patterns, but if the masses cannot see that C-19 was never really about C-19 but control and depopulation, how will they ever see these connections?
Will their doctors tell them to eat all day, from the time they hop out of bed to the time they fall asleep?
Will every overweight and obese person be told by their practitioner, “Do not worry about exercise or eating whole foods-just take these pills?”
We need to use our critical thinking skills and not assume that every research article is trustworthy and unbiased.
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Since I retired, I've settled into IF eating habits for the most part. I think while I was working, I burned more calories and needed to eat more. But also, scheduled break times influence how often many people eat.
All of this is time restricted eating or TRE. Dr. Jason Fung wrote "The Complete Guide to Fasting" and for those so inclined or interested I strongly suggest reading his works!