Fasting for 16 hours and eating the rest of the time, i.e. the remaining 8 hours, would allow overweight patients over 60 who have survived breast cancer to reduce their risk of developing cardiovascular disease.
- Side effects of intermittent fasting, experienced by participants, were minor (headaches, irritability) and transient (5 minutes to 3 hours).
- The Canadian Cardiovascular Society scoring system was used to measure the risk of cardiovascular disease according to the Framingham score over 10 years.
Weight loss, anti-stress, stimulation of the immune system… Intermittent fasting has many health benefits. This way of eating is also beneficial for cardiovascular health. As proof: a recent study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC), revealed that this method of not eating anything for a fixed period of time could protect the hearts of breast cancer survivors.
Eat for 8 hours and abstain for the remaining 16 hours
“A time-restricted diet restricts energy intake to a given time window, typically 8 hours, followed by a 16-hour fast (the 16:8). This is an approach that could improve cardiometabolic health, but its effects on cancer populations or cardiovascular disease risk have not been studied,” wrote researchers from the American College of Cardiology in the United States in the works.
For the purposes of the study, the scientists recruited 22 women over the age of 60, who were overweight or obese. These patients, who survived breast cancer, had taken anthracyclines, namely drugs widely used in cancerology. For eight weeks, the participants could eat freely between 12 and 8 p.m. on weekdays and at any time on weekends. Outside these hours, the volunteers were asked to consume only water, black coffee or black tea. “No other instructions regarding physical activity were given”, the authors said.
A 15% reduction in cardiovascular risk
According to the results, the risk of cardiovascular diseases of the patients decreased from 10.9% to 8.6% and a reduction of 15% was observed after 8 weeks. The body mass of the participants also decreased. At baseline, 15 of 22 participants (68%) were classified as being in poor cardiometabolic health. After the 8-week experiment, 8 of the 15 volunteers no longer met the criteria for metabolic syndrome.
“This study generates important hypotheses and questions about the role of time-restricted eating relevant to cancer survivors. For example, what is the basis for interindividual variation in response to dietary restriction, and that help identify patients who are most likely to benefit from this strategy How does diet quality affect these outcomes We look forward to seeing research using practical interventions on how of life continue to evolve and progress to improve the lives of our patients and survivors,” said Bonnie Ky, editor of the Journal of the American College of Cardiologyin a statement.
