By Stephen Beech
People over 60 who leave over 12 hours between meals are more susceptible to chronic diseases, according to a new study.
The findings show trendy fasting diets are not suitable for older people, say scientists.
Swedish researchers found that senior citizens who usually had longer intervals between meals accumulated chronic diseases more rapidly over time than those with shorter intervals.
The study, published in the Journal of Internal Medicine, showed that the association was most pronounced among people aged 78 or older.
Interest in fasting has increased in recent years, but relatively little is known about how meal timing affects health in older adults.
For the new study, researchers from the Karolinska Institute investigated whether the duration of the longest daily interval between meals was associated with the accumulation of chronic diseases over time.
The researchers used data from 2,981 people in Stockholm who were aged 60 or older at the start of the study, and were followed for up to 15 years.
The duration of intervals between meals was estimated from the participants' self-reported information about when they usually ate during a 24-hour period.
Longer intervals between meals were associated with faster accumulation of chronic diseases over time.
In particular, people whose longest interval between meals during a typical day was 14 to 24 hours accumulated chronic diseases more rapidly than those whose longest interval was six to 11.5 hours.
The association was observed for the total number of chronic diseases, as well as for cardiovascular and neuropsychiatric diseases, but not for musculoskeletal diseases.
Study author Adrián Carballo-Casla, of the Karolinska Institute's Ageing Research Center, said: "Much of the research on fasting has been conducted in younger or middle-aged populations.
"Our findings suggest that the associations may be different in older adults, particularly among the oldest age groups."
But the research team said that the study was observational, so can't determine cause and effect.
Carballo-Casla added: "Although longer intervals between meals were linked to faster disease accumulation, the study cannot establish whether the fasting pattern independently contributed to this outcome."