Cardioprotective Effects of Intermittent Fasting

Calorie restriction, a dietary regimen reducing energy intake without causing malnutrition, prolongs lifespan and exerts medical and health benefits such as lowering metabolic risk factors for chronic diseases and ameliorating chronic conditions. Intermittent fasting (IF), a type of calorie restriction regimen, has attracted particular attention as it is cost-effective and more accessible while exerting the same or even enhanced beneficial effects on health and disease in laboratory animals and humans. In this review, we focus on the protective effects of IF on several types of heart diseases including myocardial ischemic injury, age-related cardiac hypertrophy, doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity and coronary heart disease risk factors. The findings summarized here implicate IF as a nonpharmacological, non-genetic preventive or therapeutic intervention for certain types of heart disease.