MEMPHIS — For many people, there’s a constant, nagging inner monologue telling them to start a new diet or get back in the gym. However, some dieting and fitness plans may be doing more harm than good. Whether it’s intermittent fasting, cutting carbs, or going Keto, new research is advising caution for those who restrict their eating habits. Researchers at The University of Tennessee Health Science Center say that eating only one meal per day is associated with an increased risk of death in American adults 40 and older.
The findings contradict the many articles on intermittent fasting research previously published on StudyFinds which demonstrate the wide-ranging benefits of the practice. For example, just recently one report linked intermittent fasting to greater longevity. Another shows that it could potentially help prevent diabetes. Any changes to your diet should always be discussed with your doctor first.
According to the scientists behind this latest report, skipping meals can have harmful effects to your health. While you might enjoy dropping a few extra pounds, skipping breakfast is associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease mortality. Similarly, missing lunch or dinner can lead to a higher risk of death in general.
The timing of your meals also plays role in health. For those who eat three meals daily, researchers say that meals should be spaced out by 4.5 hours of each other. Otherwise, you may be inching closer to death’s door.
“At a time when intermittent fasting is widely touted as a solution for weight loss, metabolic health, and disease prevention, our study is important for the large segment of American adults who eat fewer than three meals each day. Our research revealed that individuals eating only one meal a day are more likely to die than those who had more daily meals,” says lead study author Yangbo Sun, from the Department of Preventive Medicine at The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, in a media release.
2 in 5 people follow a restricted diet plan
The investigators analyzed responses and causes of death from over 24,000 American adults 40 years-old and older who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) between 1999 and 2014. The survey collects data on everything from diet to general health across the U.S.
Researchers found that people who ate less than three meals a day (about 40% of the participants) shared common characteristics such as having less education, lower income, food insecurities, drinking more alcohol, smoking, and have less energy intake overall.
“Our results are significant even after adjustments for dietary and lifestyle factors (smoking, alcohol use, physical activity levels, energy intake, and diet quality) and food insecurity,” adds the study’s senior investigator, Dr. Wei Bao, from the Department of Epidemiology, College of Public Health at the University of Iowa.
Dr. Bao explains that skipping meals means obtaining more energy all at once, which can throw off your body’s ability to metabolize glucose. This can result in damage to your metabolism.
So, the next time you’re considering hopping on the newest diet trend, think twice. Limiting your body’s food (and fuel) intake can have serious long-term consequences and that is more important than fitting into the next size down in jeans. As mentioned, it’s best to talk with your doctor first to figure out the best dietary routine for your health.
The study is published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
So there is some risk in only eating one meal a day? The article fails to mention how much risk, which is important to individuals making decisions. Do 1 out of 10 die within a week from only eating one meal a day? Or is it 1 of a million die within 10 years? “Increased Risk” is too imprecise a term to be of much use.
For those eating one meal per day there was a 30% increase risk of death for all cause mortality and an 83% increase in risk in cardiovascular deaths compared to those eating 3 meals per day
“During 185,398 person-years of follow-up period, 4,175 deaths occurred, including 878 cardiovascular deaths. Most participants ate three meals per day. Compared with participants eating three meals per day, the multivariable-adjusted HRs for participants eating one meal per day were 1.30 (95% CI 1.03 to 1.64) for all-cause mortality, and 1.83 (95% CI 1.26 to 2.65) for CVD mortality. Participants who skipped breakfast have multivariable-adjusted HRs 1.40 (95% CI 1.09 to 1.78) for CVD mortality compared with those who did not. The multivariable-adjusted HRs for all-cause mortality were 1.12 (95% CI 1.01 to 1.24) for skipping lunch and 1.16 (95% CI 1.02 to 1.32) for skipping dinner compared with those who did not. Among participants eating three meals per day, the multivariable-adjusted HR for participants with an average interval of ≤4.5 hours in two adjacent meals was 1.17 (95% CI 1.04 to 1.32) for all-cause mortality, comparing with those having a meal interval of 4.6 to 5.5 hours.”
I clicked on the actual link to the study in the last line of the article. It says in the study in black and white that most participants in the study ate three meals a day, including the ones who died. They had many people in the study also who drank alcohol, smoked cigarettes, had low access to quality food, etc. So this study has nothing to do with intermittent fasting as practiced by most. Health conscious intermittent fasters do not smoke, indulge alcohol or eat lots of junk food. Their meals are healthy and limited mostly to protein, vegetables and fruit.
This study lumps together those who skip meals in order to smoke, eat potato chips, candy, etc. and says these are “intermittent fasters”. Ridiculous. Probably funded by food industry.
So…eating 3 meals every 4.5 hours is suggested. If I start eating at 8:00 AM, that means I’ll be eating again at 12:30 PM and again at 5:00 PM. I will NOT be eating between 5:00 PM and 8:00 AM which is 15 hours. That by my understanding is intermittent fasting. So am I inching closer to death by doing what appears to have been suggested or am I reading the article wrong?
This is fear porn horseshit. Study was based on lifestyles of people, prior to 2014, that only ate 1-2 times a day based on maladaptive behaviors such as addictions, alcoholism etc. Not at all based on current healthy test subjects who are opting to eat less.
This article is Bull crap and goes against long-held science and new discoveries. Intermittent fasting clears up most every human diease. By evolutionary standards, anyone who eats 3 meals a day is a glutton. Read Dr. Jason Fung’s work as well Dr Joel Fuhrman and Dr. Steven Gundry.
Absolutely absurd. Calorie deprivation has consistently proven to increase the lifespan of every mammal animal model ever undertaken. In this study in particular they must have gone to the city dumpsters to find study participants that were smokers, boozers and druggies. I have two doctoral degrees one in medicine. I can assure you that those people that live the longest are thin, not fat and they don’t have destructive bad habits.
The idea of eating three meals a day originated with the English Aristocracy. Romans ate one meal a day at roughly noon. The Greeks introduced Breakfast. The concept of three meals a day is arbitrary and capricious nonsense. Eat when you are hungry. The idea of force-feeding three meals a day is human foie gras. Many people eat when there are bored.
The idea of fasting or more simply not eating for some period of time only gives the digestive tract a much-needed rest. The large cats go without eating for three days to five and more. Scientists are interested in the big Cats because it is difficult to tell an older cat from a younger one. Their fasting regime may be keeping the older Lions and Tigers in a quasi-non-ageing status. Intermittent fasting is not starvation. Participants can eat what they wish in one meal a day. They assert food choices WHICH WERE NOT PART OF THIS STUDY!
There may be some validity that a single larger meal should be consumed earlier in the day to match circadian rhythms. Intermittent fasting or simply one meal a day animal studies have shown a significant increase in life expectancy, not a decrease. To inject the notion that those that engage in intermittent fasting or one-meal-a-day consumption are poor is nonsense.
But I will give you this. Poor people do not generally live as long as the affluent. But I promise you this, the poor do not use intermittent fasting, or one meal a day consumption voluntarily in a program maximizing their nutrient intake. They generally have very poor diets and self-destructive habits and those variables lead to a reduced life expectancy.
Geez I went for 10 years working a physical job but eating one meal a day. Now at age 70 I eat two meals a day and have been doing it long before the term “intermittent fasting”. Seems like someone needed to come up with an article?
BTW – I am none of these –
“Researchers found that people who ate less than three meals a day (about 40% of the participants) shared common characteristics such as having less education, lower income, food insecurities, drinking more alcohol, smoking, and have less energy intake overall.”
There is no way I believe this.
This study is very poorly done. They used a survey data of people who can’t afford to eat 3 meals a day, are poorly educated, don’t exercise, smoke and drink and amazingly compared this to health conscious adults who use intermittent fasting.
This sounds so ridiculous. “Closer to death” if you don’t eat your meals 4.5hrs apart, lol. I do IF and anyone I know doing IF has higher energy and sleeps better than before. Most are highly educated and drink very little if at all. I guess we are the exception 😉
total BS
I AGREE!!!! wow…ive never heard such bull. Pay Nooo attention to this. Dumb.
Probably the biggest BS I’ve read in a very long time.
I agree this article is BS.. Fasting is one of the best things you can do for your digestive system. If you like a healthy stool a trimmer belly and still relatively eat what you want in the 8 hour window it is great. Its called Break Fast for a reason.. Fasting goes back to the bible. Don’t trust the real motivation behind this article.. Pharma perhaps..
How can we explain the studies in longevity that say food restriction is a key component to a longer lifespan?
….This article runs contrary to a whole lot of other research. Im ignoring it.
This probably comes from the same people who say Lucky Charms is healthier than steak
BS article.
Here is a cardiologist/practicing heart surgeon in Miami – a huge advocate for fasting and intermittent fasting…
youtube.com/watch?v=RuOvn4UqznU&t=28s&ab_channel=TheGalenFoundation
“Researchers found that people who ate less than three meals a day (about 40% of the participants) shared common characteristics such as having less education, lower income, food insecurities, drinking more alcohol, smoking, and have less energy intake overall.” – That statement alone tells you the study is not founded on the right demographic.
What is likely missing is that many of the subjects likely had preexisting health conditions that led them to IF. Or, many of the subjects may have been skipping meals, not because they were following IF, but because they were impoverished and could not obtain healthy nutrition. Studies of this type are often very misleading.
Financial or educational status could mean that one meal may consist of rice and potatoes bs nutrient dense vegetables and protein. It’s not the number of meals daily a person consumes as much as how nutrient dense the meal is.
The article also says
“Researchers found that people who ate less than three meals a day (about 40% of the participants) shared common characteristics such as having less education, lower income, food insecurities, drinking more alcohol, smoking, and have less energy intake overall.”
Do you think perhaps this group was not eating or drinking healthy for the one or two meals a day they were having and also their smoking might have an impact since is rhe number one life shortener?
This article is so skewed and hiding the truth about the study. Cardio vascular death was higher with few meals and all cause death was higher for 3 meals at 4.5 hour interval. The study is faulty as it does not even evaluate or outline what was or should have been eaten. Had it been keto, the results would have been better overall. This is B.S.
I guess winning a Nobel Prize for this topic is not enough evidence for the good of IF. 🤪🤪🤪
Total propaganda to make people sicker AND to use as an excuse for all these “Sudden…”