University of Illinois Cancer Center members Krista Varady, PhD, and Vanessa Oddo, PhD, MPH, were among the UIC researchers who debunked common myths about the safety of intermittent fasting in a commentary published in Nature Reviews Endocrinology.
Varady is a Professor in the UIC College of Applied Health Sciences who studies weight loss and fasting in clinical trials, and Oddo is an Assistant Professor who focuses on social and economic determinants of dietary intake.
“Despite the mounting evidence supporting the use of intermittent fasting as a safe and effective weight loss intervention, many myths about fasting persist in popular culture. Here, we review some common beliefs about intermittent fasting that are not supported by scientific evidence,” the authors wrote in the commentary published in June. Read more about it in UIC Today.
The other commentary authors were Sofia Cienfuegos, PhD, MS, RD, a UIC Clinical Assistant Professor, who studies the effects of intermittent fasting on weight loss and cardiometabolic health, and Shuhao Lin, PhD, RDN, formerly at UIC and now at the Mayo Clinic.
Varady also was featured in March on the podcast Science Vs, a show that “takes on fads, trends, and the opinionated mob to find out what’s fact, what’s not, and what’s somewhere in between.” Varady was a guest on the podcast’s “Intermittent Fasting: Hungry for Facts?” episode.