FASTING CAN ADD YEARS TO YOUR LIFE

AS YOU will know, I’m a fan of intermittent fasting — cutting your calories for a couple of days a week (the 5:2 diet), or reducing the hours within which you devour them, known as time-restricted eating (TRE).

Studies have suggested that TRE can lead to modest weight loss and improvements in blood pressure and blood sugar levels.

So I was disappointed by recent headlines claiming TRE is a waste of time.

A study in China, where people were asked to eat between 8am and 4pm, found this led to an average weight loss of 8kg (nearly 18lb) after a year; those who simply cut their calories lost 6.3kg (nearly 14lb).

But as the trial was quite small, these differences weren’t considered ‘significant’. However, the volunteers were healthy to begin with, so it wasn’t surprising they didn’t get noticeably healthier.

By contrast a more recent study, in the journal Science, found that combining TRE with calorie restriction extended the lifespans of mice by an impressive 35 per cent. So I won’t be giving up on it!