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The AHA says Fasting increases cardiac risk by 91%. Are they really that stupid?

Correlation is not causation. Healthy User Bias.

Dr. Jason Fung
9 min readMar 21, 2024

This week, the American Heart Association presented an abstract that suggested a 16 hour fast is linked to a 91% increased risk of heart disease. This study simply shows a correlation, which is very, very far from proving that fasting CAUSES more heart disease. Unfortunately, this did not stop the AHA from boldly proclaiming that correlation = causation. In this press release, they stray from stating the correlation link to saying ‘may raise’ which clearly implies causation. That’s a huge problem. Because it’s a bald lie.

American Heart Association implies causation

Journalists at various news outlets quickly parroted the view that fasting causes heart disease. To prove causation, that fasting caused heart disease, you need to do a randomized controlled trial (RCT). That is, you randomly give one group one intervention and another one you don’t. This eliminates the inherent problem of correlation studies. This stuff is so basic that I can barely believe I need to write this article.

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Dr. Jason Fung
Dr. Jason Fung

Written by Dr. Jason Fung

Nephrologist. New York Times best selling author. Interest in type 2 diabetes reversal and intermittent fasting. Founder www.TheFastingMethod.com.

Responses (85)

What are your thoughts?

I was 330 pounds and in a scooter. I had to have numerous surgeries as a result of a lot of childhood abuse. I had my right hip broken when I was 8 years old in a boarding school, I didn't receive medical treatment resulting in necrosis of the…

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What are my thoughts? Thank God for Jason Fung and his lack of patience with idiots.

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I was hoping you would weigh in on this "finding". I read the presentation and couldn't believe the AHA actually approved the abstract for their meeting. So disappointing.
Thank you for giving such clear examples of causation and correlation. I just…

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