Monthly Fasts May Reduce Heart Disease

It’s far from conclusive, but it is interesting. An analysis of 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 Utah-based health registry, revealed that people who followed the Mormon custom of fasting one day a month has a lower chance of developing heart disease. The Boston Globe reports that 59 percent of periodic meal skippers were diagnosed with heart disease versus 67 percent of the others. Why is that?  The Globe reports that researchers speculate that when people take a break from food, it forces the body to dip into fat reserves to burn calories. Read more in the Boston Globe.