The Study
Benjamin Horne, PhD, and colleagues at Intermountain Medical Center's Cardiovascular and Genetic Epidemiology division studied 4,629 patients who had undergone coronary angiography (heart imaging). They compared cardiovascular outcomes between patients who fasted routinely and those who did not, adjusting for all standard risk factors including age, sex, smoking, diabetes, and cholesterol.
The study was published in the peer-reviewed American Journal of Cardiology and indexed in PubMed Central (PMC2572991). Intermountain Medical Center is one of the largest non-university-affiliated cardiac research centers in the United States.
The Findings
Routine periodic fasting was associated with:
- 54% lower risk of coronary artery disease
- 71% less likely to experience heart failure (follow-up study)
- Lower diabetes prevalence: 12% among fasters vs 20% among non-fasters
A 2012 follow-up published in the Journal of Cardiology confirmed and extended the original finding.
The LDS Connection
Latter-day Saints fast one Sunday per month — typically abstaining from food and water for two consecutive meals (approximately 24 hours). This practice has been part of LDS theology since the 1800s. The Intermountain Medical Center research was conducted in Utah, where the fasting population overlaps significantly with LDS members — which is how the research team first noticed the pattern.
The researchers were not studying LDS members specifically. They were studying cardiovascular patients and observed that those who fasted routinely had dramatically better outcomes. The LDS practice of monthly fasting happens to align with exactly the type of periodic fasting the research documents as protective.
Context
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, killing approximately 695,000 Americans per year. A 54% reduction in coronary artery disease risk — from a practice that costs nothing and is already built into a monthly religious routine — is a finding with significant public health implications. It is separate from, and additive to, the LDS longevity advantage documented by UCLA (+9.8 years for men, +5.6 for women).
Discussion