Unveiling Surprising Findings in New Fasting Research

Hi, everyone. I'm here again with Dr. Nario

Thanks for being here, Dr. Nario. Hi, Steve. For having me again. Always a pleasure

All right. If you guys know you've been watching the channel, Dr. Nario is with Biointegrative Health Center

They're in Reno, Nevada. You can check them out online, find their website pretty easily, and find out more about the things that they do at Biointegrative Health Center

So we're going to talk about intermittent fasting. Studies come and go, you know, really fast on all kinds of different things

And, you know, my thing, I always say everyone's different. And, you know, I'm..

interested to hear what you have to say about this fairly new study about intermittent fasting

So first just tell us the basics about this study. Well, Steve, this is a new headline that actually shocked the world and where I got the

flood, I got flooded with questions from not only my patients, but also my colleagues and

friends about this. Because recently the American Heart Association and specifically the epidemiology

Prevention Lifestyle Conference that they had headlined and it said eight hour time

restricted eating link to a 91% higher risk of cardiovascular death and this is actually a 2024

abstract that um when when they presented it and you have to remember that this type of diet has been

becoming popular with the likes of like even musk Jennifer Anderson and even grishi sunak the

The diet trend called intermittent fasting probably refer maybe to be more accurate as time-restricted eating

Many different versions of intermittent fasting have come and gone over the years

Well, the current flavor is to eat only a specific time of the day, hence the refinement to time-restricted eating

And here are the different times. 16-8, we heard of that, 16 hours a day of fasting and then restricting eating to an eight-hour window, 5-2, meaning five days

of the week. You're actually going to be eating and then two would be just 500 to 600 calories

Alternate day, 500 to 600 calories on the days that are your non-fasting and then on the fasting

days, you, I mean, meaning you can definitely just do the fast and different alternating days there

Eat stop. That's another one. This is going to be individuals fast for full 24 hours once or twice a week

Even the warrior diet, as they mentioned that, involves fasting for 20 hours each day and consuming all calories within a four-hour eating window, typically in the evening

And then Omad, that's another popular one, one meal a day, involves fasting for 23 hours and consuming the rest with the hour that is left

And then spontaneous snow skipping. So we just do this naturally just because we're so busy

And the newer one is circadian rhythm schedule which is the 1212 eating when the sun is out and then not eating when the sun is down So those are just specific variations of the intermittent fasting

Okay, so what did this specific study, you mentioned a little bit about 91% increase in heart disease for people who do intermittent fast

Yes, this is more specific. to the one who is doing the eight-hour time-restricted

So it's 16, basically. So, yeah, 16-8. I have a hard time

I'm trying to connect the dots there. So give me some details on what the findings of the study were

Right. Well, let's talk about how they did the study initially. And this is, again, how hairs raised because of such cringing

information about something we know that is really healthy, Steve. In the study, participants

completed two separate food questionnaires about what they ate over the past 24 hours

Deaths were recorded in the CDC and Prevention National Death Index, and researchers had an

average of eight years worth of follow-up data on over 20,000 participants. Those who ate their

daily meals within an eight-hour window, they fasted for more than 16 hours a day, had more

cardiovascular mortality than the control group, which ate during a 12 to 16 hour window

They are ate fairly consistently throughout the day comparing these two groups

The 168 dieters had a 91 increased risk for cardiovascular death. So you would notice there that, of course, the shorter duration of fasting has the one

with a higher cardiovascular mortality. And the ones that are doing it longer obviously are safer

That's what they're saying. Hmm. So, well, a questionnaire. That's how they did the study was they asked people questions

That's correct. I'm not going to say anything. I'm not a doctor

I'm not a scientist. That's right. But, okay. Like said, I'm not saying anything

I'll let you talk. But so, um, Do you see any flaws? Any flaws with this study

Of course there are flaws, Steve. You yourself felt it. But let's dissect this study down for everybody to really understand that we are looking at false information here

So one, the press coverage was based on unpublished, non-peer-reviewed results. Media outlets highlighted preliminary research, but also the American Heart Association promoted it

There is nothing wrong with poster presentations, preliminary research, but there should be more screening before presenting it for public consumption

A good example where media wanted to exploit something juicy for public reaction

As I mentioned to you, this was an abstract, right? When they put it out there

Next would be it's an observational study and therefore prone to confounding results

Always we hear about the higher accuracy of randomized control trials. Those are the ones that really brings in the information and the validity of information

Third would be researchers didn have information on the quality of the study participants diet If someone breaks their 16 fast with ultra food for example or junk food

the type of food might be irrelevant to long-term cardiovascular health than when it was eating in relation to what they're eating

People may have engaged in intermittent fasting because they had shift work, for example, also, or an irregular sleep schedule

which are the independent cardiovascular risk factors again. It also is possible that people adopted time-restricting eating as a dietary strategy precisely because they were already sick from a cardiovascular condition

Suffice to say, many other external factors might be a play here

Number four would be dietary patterns were assessed, this was your point, using a two 24-hour questionnaires

And the dietary questionnaires are notoriously unreliable and subject to poor recall of participants

But here, the problem is more marked because dietary fads or patterns, bulwax, and weighing in popularity

Compliance with most diets is a problem. Using a single time in point to assess such diet, which by nature changes and fluctuates with time

will not be a true reflection of someone's overall diet. And lastly, participants were not divided in an intermittent fasting group and a control group

They were divided into subgroups based on eating, like less than eight hours

8 to 10 hours, 10 to 12 hours, and then the reference group was 12 to 16 hours and more than 16 hours

Always should be the control group in a political trial is the group that does not receive the new treatment being studied

This group is compared to a group that received a new treatment to see if the new treatment works

So as you can see that there is, there are some hits here that we should question this study and still stand by with the benefits of intermittent fasting

Okay, so do you know if they had this question on there

Did they ask people if they broke their fast with cigarettes and alcohol

That's the problem. So that's why all of these are just, again, just the mere fact of a questionnaire makes you question it

You need to run a study with an actual clinical team to assess the outcomes of people

You need to have good metrics. That's what I'm saying, like blood pressure, blood levels

cholesterol panel. So these are the good things that really will tell you what data is important and what is not

Yeah, for sure. All right. So I just want to get your final thoughts on the, or your, your conclusion on this. I can already kind of guess what it's going to be. And I know, look, everyone's different. If you guys watch the channel, you hear me say that all the time. I know you, Doc, you're more of a, you like the flexitarian diet, right

Right. Okay. That works for you. That, I mean, you're healthy. I'm sure you look at your blood work all the time, you know. You're a, you're a flexitarian. I'm not, you know, but we're all different. Right. And so I just think that that has to be taken into consideration also. And, you know, I pretty much, you know, I don't eat. It's rare for me to eat after five or six o'clock at night

It rare So even if I going to eat a fairly early breakfast you know I get up at seven even if I going to eat a fairly early breakfast I got a pretty long stint there where I haven eaten right Right And what about all the studies that say you shouldn eat past such and such

And, you know, so anyway, this is a fairly new one. So your final conclusion for you and your patients as a doctor, an integrative physician

what's your final conclusion on this? Well, Steve, it's always a win for intermittent fasting, as I say

12 to 14 hours is the key for ketosis to occur. So this is meaning, of course, we want to burn fat and use it as energy

And just to remind our viewers, the benefits the unsurmountable amount of evidential material

that the backs up intermittent fasting, weight loss and fat loss. During fasting periods, the body relies on stored fat for energy

Improve metabolic health. Improve various markers of metabolic health, such insulin sensitivity, blood sugar levels

even cholesterol levels, enhanced brain function, reduce the risk of neurodegenerative disease

such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, increase autophagy, removal of damage or dysfunctional components

of the cell in our system that actually protects aging, promote cellular repair, and reduce

certain diseases, reduces inflammation, reduces markers of inflammation, which may help lower

the risk of inflammatory diseases in the future. Longevity, the majority of the study

of this usually observed in animal studies, but still, it actually has backed up some, some small

studies are out there for intermittent fasting and just the plain simplicity and convenience

Intermittent fasting can be relatively easy to implement and adhere to compared to traditional

calorie restricted diets. It does not require specific foods or meal plans and keep can be

adapted to fit any individual preference and even lifestyle. Basically, it's cheap. You don't have to pay

for it. Yeah, that's true. You know, I just got a last thing I'd say, you know, is, you know, today I ate a banana

And that's kind of rare for me. And yesterday I ate an apple. But so I brought four bananas home yesterday

And my wife says, you bought bananas. You know, they're organic, you know

She goes, you bought bananas. And I looked at them. I said, yeah, I bought four of them

And now there's only three there. What happened to one of them? Well, variation is cheese

You need to change whatever you're eating so the body cannot get used to it

So change it all the time. She ate one of my bananas

Oh, there you go. I couldn't believe it. Yeah. That's how it went from four to three

Oh, snuck one in there. Yeah, I'm like going, one is missing

What happened to it? She just gets this little smirk on her face

She's the culprit. All right. all right doc appreciate your insight on this and your opinion thank you for being with us well

Steve thank you again as we all know that our knowledge is your power to better health and thank you

for letting me provide you with edge and longevity and health maintenance which I call the biological

edge or the bio edge