According to the British newspaper "The Sun", people who ate only within a period of 8 hours a day were 91 percent more likely to die from cardiovascular disease compared to those who ate normally for more than 12 to 16 hours.

Victor Zhong, from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, said: “We were surprised to find that people who followed a time-restricted diet were more likely to die from heart disease.

He added: "Although this type of diet has been popular because of its potential short-term benefits, our research clearly shows that eating for a shorter period of time was not linked to living longer."

Intermittent fasting is a type of diet. Many studies have talked about its benefits in losing weight and enhancing metabolism.

Previous research has shown that eating at specific times can improve blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol in the short term.

The latest study, which is scheduled to be presented at the American Heart Association's Epidemiology and Prevention Conference, looked at how intermittent fasting affects heart health in the long term.

The researchers tracked the diet patterns and health records of 20,078 adults, aged 49 years on average.

Over an average of eight years, 2,797 people died, including 840 deaths from heart disease.

Duane Mellor, from Aston University, said: "We have to be very careful not to produce alarmist headlines and stories. What you eat and your general lifestyle are probably more important than if you ate all your food in less than eight hours."