Intermittent fasting study raises questions

“Maybe,” “but” and “if” are useful words when you think maybe something makes sense, but you want to be cautious and you’re not sure if it’s 100% right. That makes those words very useful when you’re peppered with headlines about health news that don’t quite add up.

Take the latest data on adults who practice intermittent fasting by eating during an eight-hour window daily. An unpublished abstract presented at an American Heart Association conference says those folks are 91% more likely to die from cardiovascular disease than people who eat during a 12-to-16-hour window.

This contrasts sharply with the heart-friendly effects of time-restricted eating that have been found in other studies. So, what gives?

Do we know if those time-restricted eaters indulged in red and processed meats, sweet treats, and unhealthy fats because they thought their narrow time frame made that less risky? (It doesn’t.) Were they sedentary? Did they have depression? We don’t know.

Even the researchers acknowledge that such information is vital to form conclusions about the effect of eating patterns. So where does that leave you if you’ve embraced time-restricted eating?

Step 1: Have your doctor review your heart health risk factors and medications to determine if any form of intermittent fasting is smart for you. We recommend the well-researched five-day-amonth calorie-reduction plan — the Fasting Mimicking Diet — outlined in Dr. Mike’s book “The Great Age Reboot.”

Step 2: Enjoy plant-based, minimally processed foods and loads of fresh vegetables and fruits, lean proteins and healthy fats.

Step 3: Get daily moderate-to-vigorous physical activity.