BATON ROUGE — For years, people have used intermittent fasting to lose weight. Others fast for religious reasons. The popular diet trend is generally safe, but some studies suggest it could cause heart problems.

There are several ways to do intermittent fasting. The 16:8 method is popular. This involves eating during an eight-hour window daily. Many dieters do this by skipping breakfast.

"It actually became popular because studies on fruit flies show that when you restrict the calories, the flies will actually live longer,” Francisco Lopez-Jimenez, a cardiovascular medicine specialist, said. “But we are not flies.”

Time-restrictive dieting can promote weight loss, improve insulin sensitivity and reduce inflammation.

However, some research shows this practice could possibly increase cardiovascular risk.

"This recent study actually showed that those people practicing intermittent fasting are twice as likely as dying from heart disease or dying in general than those who don't practice this," Lopez-Jimenez said.

The reasons behind the risk factors are unclear.

Before trying intermittent fasting, it's a good idea to check with your healthcare team.