Monthly fasting may help heart

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Mormons have less heart disease — something doctors have long chalked

up to their religion's ban on smoking. New research suggests that

another of their " clean living " habits also may be helping their

hearts: fasting for one day each month.

A study in Utah, where the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

is based, found that people who skipped meals once a month were about

40 percent less likely to be diagnosed with clogged arteries than

those who did not regularly fast.

People did not have to " get religion " to benefit: non-Mormons who

regularly took breaks from food also were less likely to have clogged

arteries, scientists found.

They concede that their study is far from proof that periodic fasting

is good for anyone, but said the benefit they observed poses a theory

that deserves further testing.

" It might suggest these are people who just control eating habits

better, " and that this discipline extends to other areas of their

lives that improves their health, said Horne, a heart disease

researcher from Intermountain Medical Center and the University of

Utah in Salt Lake City.

He led the study and reported results at a recent American Heart

Association conference. The research was partly funded by the National

Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

Roughly 70 percent of Utah residents are Mormons, whose religion

advises abstaining from food on the first Sunday of each month, Horne

said.

Researchers got the idea to study fasting after analyzing medical

records of patients who had X-ray exams to check for blocked heart

arteries between 1994 and 2002 in the Intermountain Health

Collaborative Study, a health registry. Of these patients, 4,629 could

be diagnosed as clearly having or lacking heart disease — an artery at

least 70 percent clogged.

Researchers saw a typical pattern: only 61 percent of Mormons had

heart disease compared to 66 percent of non-Mormons. They thought

tobacco use probably accounted for the difference. But after taking

smoking into account, they still saw a lower rate of heart disease

among Mormons and designed a survey to explore why.

It asked about Mormons' religious practices: monthly fasting; avoiding

tea, coffee and alcohol; taking a weekly day of rest; going to church,

and donating time or money to charity.

Among the 515 people surveyed, only fasting made a significant

difference in heart risks: 59 percent of periodic meal skippers were

diagnosed with heart disease versus 67 percent of the others.

The difference persisted even when researchers took weight, age and

conditions like diabetes or high cholesterol or blood pressure into

account. About 8 percent of those surveyed were not Mormons, and those

who regularly fasted had lower rates of heart disease, too.

Horne speculated that when people take a break from food, it forces

the body to dip into fat reserves to burn calories. It also keeps the

body from being constantly exposed to sugar and having to make insulin

to metabolize it. When people develop diabetes, insulin-producing

cells become less sensitive to cues from eating, so fasting may

provide brief rests that resensitize these cells and make them work

better, he said.

But he and other doctors cautioned that skipping meals is not advised

for diabetics — it could cause dangerous swings in blood sugar.

Also for dieters, " the news is not as good as you might think " on

fasting, said Dr. Gibbons of the Mayo Clinic, a former heart

association president.

" Fasting resets the metabolic rate, " slowing it down to adjust to less

food and forcing the body to store calories as soon as people resume

eating, Gibbons said.