Limiting time spent eating to an 8-hour window or less each day鈥攁 type of so-called intermittent fasting鈥攚as linked with a 91% increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease compared with eating throughout a 12- to 16-hour period, according to presented at an American Heart Association conference.
have found health benefits when people shortened their eating windows. Despite this, time-restricted eating was not associated with a lower risk of death from any cause in the new study.
The study had several major limitations. The researchers analyzed results from about 20鈥�000 US participants who responded to a national survey about health and nutrition. The dietary data came from only 2 self-reported questionnaires, which relied on the participants鈥� memory. Critically, the researchers also didn鈥檛 provide data on other factors that might have affected participants鈥� health or their decision to engage in time-restricted eating, and instead focused only on the times of day they ate and their cause of death.
鈥淎lthough the study identified an association between an 8-hour eating window and cardiovascular death, this does not mean that time-restricted eating caused cardiovascular death,鈥� senior study author Victor Wenze Zhong, PhD, cautioned in a .
Published Online: April 12, 2024. doi:10.1001/jama.2024.5158