Fasting Could Be Good For The Heart, New Study
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Fasting could be good for the heart, said researchers that found
lower rates of heart disease among members of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS or Mormons) compared with others.
LDS members fast for one day a month as part of their faith.

The study was presented at the American Heart Association's
Scientific Sessions 2007 in Orlando, Florida this week and was
carried out by Dr Benjamin D Horne, director of cardiovascular and
genetic epidemiology at Intermountain Medical Center and adjunct
assistant professor of biomedical informatics at the University of
Utah in Salt Lake City, and his colleagues.

Horne said that:

"People who fast seem to receive a heart-protective benefit, and this
appeared to also hold true in non-LDS people who fast as part of a
health-conscious lifestyle."

For 30 years scientists have known that LDS members or Mormons in
Utah were less likely to die of heart disease than other Americans,
including non LDS residents in Utah. They had put this down to the
fact it is against their religion to smoke, but also wondered if it
might be due to other religious practices.

Horne and colleagues looked at the angiography records of patients
who took part in the Intermountain Heart Collaborative Study between
1994 and 2002. Angiography is a type of X-ray exam that helps
specialists see if there are any blockages in the heart's blood
vessels.

They found 4,629 male and female patients of average age 64 whose
angiography results clearly showed either that they had coronary
artery disease (CAD) or that they did not. To be classed as clearly
having CAD, at least 70 per cent narrowing had to be found in at
least one artery. Patients whose coronary arteries showed less than
10 per cent blockage or narrowing were classed as clearly not having
CAD.

The patients whose records showed their religion to be LDS had less
CAD than those whose records showed another or no religion. The
results showed that 61 per cent of LDS patients had CAD compared with
66 per cent of non-LDS patients.

Horne said that even after taking into account smoking status, or
when they looked just at the non-smokers, they still found a lower
rate of CAD in the LDS members:

"We thought this was very interesting, so we devised a survey about
other behaviors associated with LDS that might bring a health
benefit," explained Horne.

In the second part of the study, Horne and colleagues found that
fasting was the "strongest predictor of lower heart disease risk",
and the patients who fasted also had less coronary disease, said
Horne.

In the second part of the study, the researchers surveyed 515
patients (also of average age 64) who underwent coronary angiography
between 2004 and 2006 and asked them not only about their religious
preference but more specifically about: smoking habits, fasting
(skipping two consecutive meals, including drink), abstaining from
tea, coffee and alcohol, taking a day of rest once a week, going to
church, and giving time, money and goods to charity. These practices
are all observed by LDS members, but the questions were asked of all
patients.

The results of this second investigation showed that:
Patients who fasted were significantly less likely to have a CAD
diagnosis than those who did not (59 per cent of the fasting patients
had arterial blockage of 70 per cent or more compared with 67 per
cent of the non-fasting patients).

People who fasted were 39 per cent less likely to be diagnosed with
CAD.

Patients who did not drink tea were less likely to have a CAD
diagnosis.

However, once fasting was factored in, the link between tea drinking
and lower CAD became insignificant.

The impact of fasting was most strongly apparent when those patients
with CAD were compared with those with minimal or no CAD (less than
10 per cent arterial blockage).

In this comparison, the odds of having a CAD diagnosis was 45 per
cent lower among fasting patients.

Speculating on the findings, the researchers emphasized that the
results did not prove that fasting caused less CAD, but they did
suggest a new hypothesis. Perhaps it was down to timing, said Horne:

"When you abstain from food for 24 hours or so, it reduces the
constant exposure of the body to foods and glucose."

"One of the major problems in the development of the metabolic
syndrome and the pathway to diabetes is that the insulin-producing
beta cells become desensitized. Routine fasting may allow them to
resensitize - to reset to a baseline level so they work better."

He was quick to point out the study was not suggesting diabetics
should skip meals.

The researchers called for more studies based on a wider range of
populations throughout the US.

The American Heart Association said those who are interested in these
findings should note this was not a randomized or controlled trial,
and there could be other factors that link fasting with reduced CAD
not found by this study.

Click here for American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2007.

Written by: Catharine Paddock
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