The Contradictory Findings of Scientific Studies on Intermittent Fasting: Fresh new one claims that "It kills you"

R

rootyme

Gold is old
Adept
Segment 1: It's good

i) This study from 2019 clearly suggests, "Intermittent Fasting can the reduced risk of developing cardiovascular diseases."

Intermittent Fasting in Cardiovascular Disorders—An Overview - PMC

Intermittent fasting is a form of time restricted eating (typically 16 h fasting and 8 h eating), which has gained popularity in recent years and shows promise as a possible new paradigm in the approach to weight loss and the reduction of ...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Confirmed.png


ii) Another study from 2020 suggests, "Intermittent fasting has been associated with improved outcome after a cardiac event."

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7415631/

Confirmed Once Again.png


Segment 2: It's catastrophic. It kills you.

i) 8-hour time-restricted eating linked to a 91% higher risk of cardiovascular "death".

newsroom.heart.org

8-hour time-restricted eating linked to a 91% higher risk of cardiovascular death

03/19/24 Editor’s note: The research authors have shared their full poster presentation for updated details about their research abstract. Please see the digital file attached, in the right hand column for these details. The most current statistics, ...
newsroom.heart.org newsroom.heart.org

ii) Among people already living with heart diseases, intermittent fasting increased the risk of death due to heart disease and stroke by 66%. -

indianexpress.com

Can intermittent fasting worsen heart health? What a new study says

Findings from the study were presented recently at an international conference.
indianexpress.com indianexpress.com

66.png


iii) 'We were surprised': Intermittent fasting flagged as serious health risk.
  • Intermittent fasting did not decrease the overall risk of death from any cause.
  • For those living with cancer, an eating duration of 16 hours per day or more "lowered" the risk of cancer mortality.
www.usatoday.com

'We were surprised': Intermittent fasting flagged as serious health risk

Adults following an eight-hour time-restricted eating schedule have a 91% higher chance of death by cardiovascular disease than those eating within the usual timeframe of 12-16 hours per day, a new study has found.
www.usatoday.com

Segment 3: It is not dangerous and is being blown out of proportion.

i) [Written by a Science Journalist] A study says intermittent fasting is making people drop dead. Oh, come on:

www.statnews.com

A study says intermittent fasting is making people drop dead. Oh, come on

The news is everywhere today: Intermittent fasting can apparently be lethal, scientific research says. Except it doesn't.
www.statnews.com www.statnews.com

From a Science Journalist.png


ii) Research on intermittent fasting is mixed. Some studies say it is good. Some say it is not.

www.mayoclinic.org

Wondering about fasting and heart health?

Being on a fasting diet some of the time may have heart-health benefits. Find out more.
www.mayoclinic.org www.mayoclinic.org

Mixed.png



Who to believe then?
 
rootyme said:
Who to believe then?
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Hard for regular people to interpret these studies without a background in the subject, there are just too many variables. These studies are for the professionals in this field to read and come to a consensus, which can then be communicated to the general public. And the consensus is that nothing miraculous or catastrophic will happen if you just change the timing of when you eat.
 
Only the top 2-3 results are from scientific papers, rest are all from news papers. IMO, newspapers are good for spreading awareness, but it can be detremental, For many fields research is ongoing (As it should be, we never have all the answers, for all the conditions!).

Anyone who wants to try fasting - please do so, but make sure you are consuming enough water + not eating too quickly - for intermediate fasting it's better to have a window of 2-4 hours where you are eating your food. Good rule of thumb is to eat sufficient calories and try to hit as many micronutrients though diet rather than supplements.

Portion control + walks are also great way - went on a Goa trip for 1 week and put on 5 kgs (Went from 115 to 120) by portion control dropped it down to 117 in the week lol). Now going to gym with a gymrat friend of mine.
 
For me, intermittent fasting did not work. And this was for a period of 2-3 months. Intermittent fasting is not advisable for people having even a mild history of gastric ulcers, as not eating for a long period can exacerbate the issue, leading to more complications, which exactly happened in my case.

Instead I have experienced that what you eat and when you eat matters more than how you eat. For me, fully cutting down on sugar (except in food), eating majority of meals for breakfast and lunch, skipping junk, processed, spicy, fried, and fast foods, have worked wonders in making me feel energetic and lively. And not to mention, meditation and good quality of sleep in multiples of 1.5 hours (because of circadian rhythm and sleep cycles).

Simply follow a plan that works best for your body and you will do great.
 
Happy to see well researched western propaganda method of Intermittent fasting is failing now.
Any kind of fasting wont work if it's not associated with eating good balanced healthy food, before and after fasting.

Our Rishi/Munis/Yogi/Saint were more Abel to teach fasting method than those who won Nobel. Please look & read those books/literatures.
I'm 99% sure that this Nobel winner may have had same idea that our ancient books mentioned 1000 Years ago.
It doesn't mean I Disrespect to Nobel Winner's study & work.

AINDRASIS_GUPTA said:
For me, intermittent fasting did not work. And this was for a period of 2-3 months. Intermittent fasting is not advisable for people having even a mild history of gastric ulcers, as not eating for a long period can exacerbate the issue, leading to more complications, which exactly happened in my case.
Click to expand...
I also have such gastric issue plus headache starts if trying for any kind of fasting
 
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AINDRASIS_GUPTA said:
Instead I have experienced that what you eat and when you eat matters more than how you eat. For me, fully cutting down on sugar (except in food), eating majority of meals for breakfast and lunch, skipping junk, processed, spicy, fried, and fast foods, have worked wonders in making me feel energetic and lively. And not to mention, meditation and good quality of sleep in multiples of 1.5 hours (because of circadian rhythm and sleep cycles).
Click to expand...
I agree. While i too did IF for couple of months with no processed sugar/added sugar in any of the food i ate in that duration. i managed to bring down my weight by 14kg. I also use to Jog every alternate day for 5km. I later shifted to normal eating, ensuring a balance diet and avoid junk/fried/fast food. Once you see the results its helps to motivate yourself to stick to the plan. Last and most imp is the sleep (min 6-7 hrs).
 
AINDRASIS_GUPTA said:
fasting is not advisable for people having even a mild history of gastric ulcers, as not eating for a long period can exacerbate the issue, leading to more complications, which exactly happened in my case.
Click to expand...
You mean if one has gastric ulcers, then one needs to keep the stomach always filled with something or the other? I am curious to understand why, if so.

Emperor said:
Happy to see well researched western propaganda method of Intermittent fasting is failing now.
Any kind of fasting wont work if it's not associated with eating good balanced healthy food, before and after fasting.

Our Rishi/Munis/Yogi/Saint were more Abel to teach fasting method than those who won Nobel. Please look & read those books/literatures.
I'm 99% sure that this Nobel winner may have had same idea that our ancient books mentioned 1000 Years ago.
It doesn't mean I Disrespect to Nobel Winner's study & work.
Click to expand...
You are happy that our rishi/munis teachings are being proved wrong?
:grumpy:
Emperor said:
I also have such gastric issue plus headache starts if trying for any kind of fasting
Click to expand...
Headache due to delayed food is a symptom of:
a) you are at a growing age (say below 18 years) and the body is not used to any deficit in calories even temporarily
b) your brain is addicted to regular food (like pavlov's dog), and this is a withdrawal symptom
c) your insulin-glucagon hormonal balance (do read this up if you are interested in your health) could be going off and this needs a serious look
 
rootyme said:
So, how exactly does one fast? I am talking about normal healthy or somewhat unhealthy adults. Yoshinori Ohsumi has a noble prize for discovering the wonders of fasting.

1. https://www.bluezones.com/2018/10/f...y-nobel-prize-winning-research-on-cell-aging/
2. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2016/press-release/
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There are zero mentions of fasting in the second link on the actual nobel site. It's some cellular level process that he worked on and got the nobel for. The first link is some health products store and it is using that very liberally to connect it to fasting.

That's the gist of all online and DIY health discussion. Reading scientific research without a background in the field will only give you dangerous half knowledge. Just follow balanced diet and regular exercise and come back to me if you have any willpower left for all these practices like fasting which even in best case scenario will give marginal benefits. People spend too much time trying to find an easy way out of having to follow balanced diet and exercise, they just want some jadibooty or superfood or simple habit change that will solve all their problems.
 
ssslayer said:
your insulin-glucagon hormonal balance (do read this up if you are interested in your health) could be going off and this needs a serious look
Click to expand...
what it is? in last few years for some health issue I have been consulted with 5-6 Qualified/Well Experienced & Senior Doctors (Hemopathy, Ayurvedic & Allopathy too), with detail Blood/Urine Test Reports, but none of them alert me about.

I have Kidney Stone issue, since last 12 years, coming and going as their wish, is recurrent stone issue has some connection with insulin-glucagon hormonal balance?
One MMBS doctor told me that kidney stone is metabolism issue.
 
Emperor said:
what it is? in last few years for some health issue I have been consulted with 5-6 Qualified/Well Experienced & Senior Doctors (Hemopathy, Ayurvedic & Allopathy too), with detail Blood/Urine Test Reports, but none of them alert me about.

I have Kidney Stone issue, since last 12 years, coming and going as their wish, is recurrent stone issue has some connection with insulin-glucagon hormonal balance?
One MMBS doctor told me that kidney stone is metabolism issue.
Click to expand...
Insulin: a hormone whose purpose in the body is to evacuate sugar from blood by pushing it into a) muscles, b) liver, c) fat cells. Of course, there are steps involved like converting glucose to glycogen or converting glucose to fatty acids, but we needn't be concerned.
Glucagon: a hormone whose purpose in body is to instruct liver to reconvert the glycogen in the liver to glucose thus increasing the blood sugar.

At any given moment both these hormones are in balance and opposing each other's action.
When we eat food, there is a sudden rush of glucose in blood (upon digestion of food), and body increases the insulin levels to push this sugar into places where it is required to be (muscles, liver, fat).
In the course of living, our cells and muscle consume the glucose for energy purpose and the muscles slowly start getting their sugar stores depleted (this condition may take few days to reach, or this could happen as soon as during one marathon - depends on the rate of energy expenditure).
In this situation, the blood sugar starts falling, so body secretes less insulin and more glucagon to release the sugar stored in liver back into the blood.
In case the food is not available, then the insulin levels fall to minimal and muscles and cells primary shift to using fat as energy source, thereby preventing further drop in blood sugar (this is what most keto-diet people aim to achieve).

What this means is that if the body's natural processes are running OK, one should be able to easily survive 1-2 days without food and NOT suffer any drop in blood sugar levels (known as hypoglycemia which can even lead to coma). In fact, average humans carry so much fat that we can easily extend this fast to 5-7 days.

Now headaches that you mention, if only occurring during the periods of hunger, then it suggests a temporary hypoglycemic condition which you are rectifying by eating.
However, it could actually suggest that blood sugar control in the body is not working as it is meant to be.

I am not that well read about Kidney stone / Urinary circuit.
 
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kvn95ss said:
Only the top 2-3 results are from scientific papers, rest are all from news papers. IMO, newspapers are good for spreading awareness, but it can be detremental, For many fields research is ongoing (As it should be, we never have all the answers, for all the conditions!).

Anyone who wants to try fasting - please do so, but make sure you are consuming enough water + not eating too quickly - for intermediate fasting it's better to have a window of 2-4 hours where you are eating your food. Good rule of thumb is to eat sufficient calories and try to hit as many micronutrients though diet rather than supplements.

Portion control + walks are also great way - went on a Goa trip for 1 week and put on 5 kgs (Went from 115 to 120) by portion control dropped it down to 117 in the week lol). Now going to gym with a gymrat friend of mine.
Click to expand...
This. Most of these studies are neither scientific, nor studies.
 
Wondering about genetic setup of individuals in modern scientific research, including that parameter alone will grossly change direction of studies.
For eg., some people are genetically predisposed with mal-absorption of Vitamin B, they suffer from comorbidities because of that.
 
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