Popular 16:8 diet may raise heart disease concerns, new research warns

LOS ANGELES - An analysis of over 20,000 US adults found that people who limited their eating across less than eight hours per day, a time-restricted eating plan, were more likely to die from cardiovascular disease compared to people who ate across 12-16 hours per day, a new study has suggested.

Time-restricted eating involves limiting the hours for eating to a specific number of hours each day, which may range from a 4- to 12-hour time window in 24 hours.

Many people who follow a time-restricted eating diet follow a 16:8 eating schedule, where they eat all their foods in an 8-hour window and fast for the remaining 16 hours each day.

In the study presented at the American Heart Association's session held in Chicago from Monday to Thursday, researchers investigated the potential long-term health impact of following an 8-hour time-restricted eating plan.

The study found people who followed a pattern of eating all of their food across less than eight hours per day had a 91 per cent higher risk of death due to cardiovascular disease.

People with heart disease or cancer also had an increased risk of cardiovascular death, according to the study.

Compared with a standard schedule of eating across 12-16 hours per day, limiting food intake to less than eight hours per day was not associated with living longer, the study found.

"It's crucial for patients, particularly those with existing heart conditions or cancer, to be aware of the association between an 8-hour eating window and increased risk of cardiovascular death," said senior study author Victor Wenze Zhong, a professor and chair of the department of epidemiology and biostatistics at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine in Shanghai, China.

"Our study's findings encourage a more cautious, personalised approach to dietary recommendations, ensuring that they are aligned with an individual's health status and the latest scientific evidence," he noted. - BERNAMA-XINHUA