For many people, optimizing their lifespan entails lowering their risk of heart disease. After all, heart disease is the world’s leading cause of mortality. The most effective strategy to reduce the risk of heart disease, including heart failure, is to address the risk factors that drive the disease process, notably obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, high LDL cholesterol, and inflammation. (1) Intermittent fasting comes into play here. Researchers have discovered that intermittent fasting causes a cascade of health advantages in animals and people, including beneficial changes in the heart. (1) In this section, you’ll learn precisely how fasting promotes heart health.
But first, let’s go through the fundamentals of cardiac disease.
What Is Heart Disease?
Problems with the circulatory system are called heart disease or cardiovascular disease. (2) Among these issues are:
- Inadequate blood flow to the brain (i.e., stroke)
- The heart is not pumping enough blood to fulfill the body’s demands.
- A plaque accumulation that narrows the arteries (this is called atherosclerosis)
Let’s speak about atherosclerosis, which is heart disease’s heart. Atherosclerosis is known as the “silent killer” since it develops with no apparent signs. Then one day, he had a heart attack. This is frequently lethal.
The following are the primary causes of atherosclerosis:
- Low-density lipoproteins (LDL) particles (they transport lipids throughout the body)
- Inflammation
- High blood pressure
Each of these variables, when combined, contributes to heart disease. For example, the LDL particle burrows into the artery wall, oxidizes, and precipitates the development of atherosclerotic plaques. (2)
However, if mild inflammation, plaques, which are collections of immune particles, cannot develop. Furthermore, when blood pressure is low, LDL particles are less likely to collide with (and adhere to) the artery wall in the first place.
Fortunately, many risk factors for heart disease are under human control. Let’s look at how fasting works and see whether it can assist.
How Intermittent Fasting Works
If you want a unique way to express yourself, here is where to be. It’s all about time-restricted feeding and fasting. It truly is that easy.
People who practice intermittent fasting often consume a nutritious diet, whether ketogenic or Mediterranean, during feeding times. (which is NOT a keto diet). There is also some calorie limitation; you are not allowed to consume a whole cake during your eating period, but adequate calorie intake based on your optimum macros (depending on your age, body weight, and other criteria) and a smaller amount of carbs. (sugar). In the interim, over lengthy times without meals, drink clear, extremely low- or no-calorie beverages, particularly those that replenish electrolytes and potassium.
The following are the most prevalent types of IF:
- 12/12: A 12-hour nocturnal fast every day
- 16/8: 16 hours of fasting, followed by 8 hours of eating.
- One-Meal-A-Day (OMAD): Consume your daily calories in a single sitting.
- 5/2: 5 days of regular eating followed by two non-consecutive days of 0-25% calorie restriction
- Alternate day fasting (ADF) involves reducing calories by 75-100% every other day.
However, intermittent fasting is not popular in Western society. Snacks are offered 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There’s always something to eat.
The problem is that when you eat continually, especially if you eat sugar, your blood sugar (blood glucose) levels remain chronically elevated. This prevents you from burning fat and raises your risk of major illnesses. (3) | (4) In reality, a high-sugar diet explains why millions of Americans are diabetic or prediabetic. (5)
Intermittent fasting keeps blood sugar and insulin levels low. (6) As a result, low insulin instructs your body to begin burning fat and creating ketones. (7) As a result, many people see intermittent fasting as an antidote to diabetes. (Diabetes is a bundle of heart disease risk factors).
6 Ways Fasting Improves Heart Health
Now that you’ve understood the fundamentals, here are six ways fasting may reduce your risk of heart disease.
#1: Diabetes reversal
Type 2 diabetes is a metabolic illness characterized by elevated blood sugar, insulin levels, blood pressure, lipids, and obesity. Because of excessive sugar diets and sedentary lifestyles, America has a diabetes pandemic. (5) What is the significance of this for heart health? Diabetes and heart disease are inextricably related. The leading cause of mortality for people with diabetes is heart disease. (8)
The study on fasting for diabetes reversal is preliminary but encouraging. In a 2018 research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, 5:2 fasting effectively lowered blood sugar (HbA1c) in 70 types 2 diabetic patients. (9)
#2: Weight loss
Obesity is a significant risk factor for heart disease. When an obese person loses weight, their chance of developing heart disease lowers. (10) There are a few ways that intermittent fasting might help you lose weight. For starters, fasting decreases blood sugar and insulin levels, a metabolic process required to use (burn) body fat as energy. In addition, several intermittent fasting programs limit calories. You are more likely to lose weight if you consume less energy than you utilize.
Fasting, in various forms, is helpful for weight loss, according to a growing body of studies. One 2018 study found that “intermittent fasting was effective for short-term weight loss among normal weight, overweight, and obese people” after assessing the relevant evidence. (6)
#3: Lower blood pressure
High blood pressure, often known as hypertension, has been linked to an increased risk of heart disease for decades. It is a common disorder that affects over 86 million US individuals. (1) Intermittent fasting has been demonstrated in several human trials to reduce blood pressure. (1) In one 2011 study, six months of 5:2 fasting decreased blood pressure considerably in overweight people. (11)
#4: Lower LDL
Consider low-density lipoprotein (LDL) particles to the truck transporting valuable cargo — fat and cholesterol — throughout your body. However, more accidents occur when too many trucks are on the road. In other words, a high LDL particle count raises the risk of atherosclerosis. (12)
Fasting can reduce LDL cholesterol, at least in obese and diabetic people. In one research, obese persons who fasted on alternate days had decreased LDL cholesterol (a surrogate for LDL particles). (13) However, it is critical to distinguish between LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) and LDL particle number. (LDL-P). LDL-P counts the number of LDL particles per unit of blood, whereas LDL-C counts the quantity of cholesterol (a different chemical) contained inside LDL particles. Even though they are frequently associated, LDL-P appears to follow risk more precisely.
#5: Lower inflammation
When an LDL particle adheres to the arterial wall, immune particles rush to the location, causing a commotion that eventually leads to plaque formation. (1) The point is that without inflammation, there would be no atherosclerosis. As a result, numerous programs aim to minimize the risk of heart disease by targeting inflammation. Even statins, best recognized for decreasing cholesterol, have an anti-inflammatory impact. (14)
Can fasting help with inflammation? Yes, according to the research. For example, one study published in Nutrition Journal discovered that 12 weeks of alternate-day fasting reduced CRP (an inflammatory marker) in average weight and overweight persons. (15)
#6: Lower triglycerides and higher HDL
Triglycerides are small fat bundles that circulate in the blood to provide energy. Lower triglycerides are associated with a lower risk of heart disease.
The HDL molecule travels through the circulation, removing oxidized (or “bad”) cholesterol from blood vessel walls. If you’re looking for a unique way to express yourself, here is the place to be.
Considering everything, the triglyceride to HDL ratio has become a standard tool in the CVD risk assessment toolbox. A smaller ratio indicates a reduced danger. And alternate-day fasting has been demonstrated to lower triglycerides while increasing HDL levels. (1)
What more can be done to enhance the triglyceride-to-HDL ratio? You’d be accurate if you guessed the ketogenic diet!
The Bottom Line
Intermittent fasting has a lot of advantages. Focus on lowering your risk of heart disease if you want to take care of your heart. This means reducing obesity, diabetes, inflammation, high blood pressure, and LDL cholesterol. These risk factors are associated with the sugary diet and sedentary lifestyle prevalent in modern culture. Intermittent fasting should be beneficial to heart health.
It has been demonstrated that intermittent fasting can correct these risk factors. As a result, it reduces the risk of heart disease. However, further study in the healthcare community and the cardiac industry is required before we can draw firm conclusions.
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