Fasting Leads to Clues to Combat Heart Disease

Cardiovascular disease is the cause of 30 percent of all global deaths and today scientists are finding that people who take a break from food for at least once a month are less likely to be diagnosed with clogged arteries.

Associated Press is reporting on a study from Utah that showed correlation between clean arteries and skipping a meal. It has found that about 40 percent of people skipping a meal at least once a month were less likely to be diagnosed with cardiovascular disease than those who did not take a break from eating. However, the results from this study are far from proof that people need to start fasting but the whole theory deserves more testing. The research might suggest that some people are able to control their eating habits more than others, which in turn affects other areas in their life, including their overall health. The leading researcher for this study was Benjamin Horne, a heart disease researcher from Intermountain Medical Center and the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. The study was partially funded by National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Researchers got an idea for this study after analyzing the X-rays on patients who have done them from 1994 to 2002 to check whether their arteries were clogged or not. Of the total amount of patients that have done this, 4,629 could be diagnosed as having or lacking heart disease. Since this area of Utah is home to many Mormons and their religion requires them to fast on each Sunday of the first month, the results were first looked for this particular group and they showed that 61 percent had heart disease. While analyzing non-Mormons, researchers noticed that 66 percent had heart disease. They thought that smoking was the cause of lesser percentages in Mormons (since Mormons' religion prohibits them to smoke). However, after taking smoking into account, they still saw a lower rate of heart disease in Mormons and decided to design a survey to establish why. The study asked about Mormons' religious practices such as fasting, avoiding tea, coffee and alcohol; taking a weekly day of rest; going to church and donating time or money to charity. Among 515 people surveyed, only fasting made a significant correlation with heart risks: 59 percent of meal skippers were diagnosed with heart disease compared to 67 percent who did not skip a meal. The researchers took age, weight, and conditions like diabetes, high cholesterol and blood pressure into account. Results were still correlational only with fasting. About 8 percent of those surveyed were not Mormons. Those who regularly fasted and were not Mormons showed the same patterns as mentioned above. Horne then speculated that fasting makes the body dip into fats to burn calories. Moreover, it also helps the body get rid of a lot of sugar and decreases the production of so much insulin to metabolize it. When people develop diabetes, insulin producing cells (also known as beta cells) become less sensitive to cues from eating. Thus, fasting provides small rests that resensitize these cells and make them work better than before. However, he advised that skipping meals for diabetics is not a good idea because the blood sugar levels would dangerously swing. Also, this might be bad news for dieters since fasting resets the metabolic rate causing it to slow down and adjust to less food. This in turn forces the body to store calories as soon as people resume eating.