There is rather stunning news about research on intermittent fasting. A team of American and Chinese researchers say that they found a 91% increase in cardiovascular death among those on an 8/16 fasting regimen -- those eating in an 8-hour window each day! Not only that, they said that they found it made cancer worse, and they found no improvement in life expectancy among those fasting.
So what do we make of this? As a minimum, if I had issues with cardiovascular disease or cancer, I would definitely not be fasting, at least not until we know more. (I'm grateful to have a very low risk of cardiovascular disease, and I have no known cancer.)
The authors of the study (and others in the world of research) are quick to point out that these results are preliminary and have not yet been subject to peer review. It may well be that peer review will find significant flaws in the study. But a 91% increase? Where there's smoke, there's fire.
It has also been pointed out that the research is based on anecdotal evidence which can be tricky to interpret. And while the they found a correlation between fasting and cardiovascular deaths, they did not establish causation. You have likely heard the saying among researchers, "correlation is not causation." So much remains to be clarified. But a 91% increase in deaths??
I will certainly be waiting to hear more on this. Speaking for myself, I don't plan right now to change my eating habits. I think it's likely that fasting has played a role in my amazinly good current cognitive abilities, and I'm reluctant to rock the boat. According to my cardiovascular scoring, I have no cardiovascular disease and a very low probability of developing it in the future. Ninety-one per cent of a very low number is still a low number. And I don't have any known cancer to be made worse. But this could all change, and I will be paying close attention.
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