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Short Summary
Main recommendation: The WONDERFUL trial, run by the Intermountain Heart Institute, is recruiting participants to test whether intermittent fasting (24-hour water-only fasts once or twice a week) lowers cholesterol and other heart disease and diabetes risk factors. The speaker stresses that intermittent fasting must be a long-term lifestyle rather than a short-term fix, since health benefits may not persist once fasting stops.
Key Points
- The study is a randomized trial: each participant has a 50% chance of being in a control group that eats their usual diet or a fasting group.
- The fasting group fasts for 24 hours on water only twice a week for one month, then once a week for five months.
- Participants come in for visits at baseline, one month, three months, and six months for lab testing and health surveys to track changes over time.
- The speaker reports the research team has studied intermittent fasting for more than a decade and found potentially profound effects.
Details Worth Noting
- Concrete instructions: If you are in the fasting group, fast for 24 hours on water only twice a week during the first month, then once a week for the following five months. If you are in the control group, continue your usual diet. Attend baseline, one-month, three-month, and six-month visits for lab work and surveys. To participate, visit the study website or call the number provided by the Intermountain Heart Institute.
- Eligibility requires a cholesterol reading of 90 or above that is not high enough to indicate statin treatment, and no current statin, metformin, insulin, or other diabetes medication.
- Participants must be free of chronic diseases and have at least one other cardiovascular risk factor: low good (HDL) cholesterol, elevated triglycerides, elevated blood pressure, overweight or obesity, or prediabetes/diabetes controlled by diet alone.
- The study is named the WONDERFUL trial.
Bottom Line
Intermittent fasting is being formally tested here as a potential long-term lifestyle approach for lowering cardiovascular and diabetes risk, and eligible people can enroll by contacting the study team.
