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https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-02-fasting-diet-lowers-factors-disease.html
Cycles of a diet that mimics fasting can reduce signs of immune system aging, as well as insulin resistance and liver fat in humans, resulting in a lower biological age, according to a new USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology-led study.
The study, published in Nature Communications on Feb. 20, adds to the body of evidence supporting the beneficial effects of the fasting-mimicking diet (FMD).
The FMD is a five-day diet high in unsaturated fats and low in overall calories, protein, and carbohydrates and is designed to mimic the effects of a water-only fast while still providing necessary nutrients and making it much easier for people to complete the fast. The diet was developed by the laboratory of USC Leonard Davis School Professor Valter Longo, the senior author of the new study.
"This is the first study to show that a food-based intervention that does not require chronic dietary or other lifestyle changes can make people biologically younger, based on both changes in risk factors for aging and disease and on a validated method developed by the Levine group to assess biological age," Longo said.
Previous research led by Longo has indicated that brief, periodic FMD cycles are associated with a range of beneficial effects. They can:
Promote stem cell regeneration
- Lessen chemotherapy side effects
- Reduce the signs of dementia in mice
In addition, the FMD cycles can lower the risk factors for cancer, diabetes, heart disease and other age-related diseases in humans.
The Longo lab also had previously shown that one or two cycles of the FMD for five days a month increased the healthspan and lifespan of mice on either a normal or Western diet, but the effects of the FMD on aging and biological age, liver fat, and immune system aging in humans were unknown until now.
More information:Fasting-mimicking diet causes hepatic and blood markers changes indicating reduced biological age and disease risk, Nature Communications (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-45260-9
(Score: 5, Informative) by EJ on Saturday February 24 2024, @10:12PM (2 children)
You're welcome. [media-amazon.com]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by julian on Sunday February 25 2024, @12:15AM
All of these studies just seem like different ways to achieve the same few goals: more fiber, fewer calories, less saturated fat. Look at the main sources of calories in those diets, vegetables and nuts. "Complex" carbohydrates just means they haven't been processed to remove the fiber. Think the difference between eating an orange and a glass of orange juice.
The reason there's so many novel approaches to doing this is because our economy, and human psychology, are trying to maximize the opposite of those goals. Any framework is better than the default which is to eat as much as you want of the cheapest food that tastes good. That's the diet program most people are running. That's what our culture and industry-captured economy promotes, subsidizes, normalizes, and advertises. It's more profitable to sell refined carbs, saturated fat, and more calories overall mostly from the cheapest possible ingredients like HFCS. The fact is, personal responsibility does not work for many people to manage weight and health in this environment we have created for them. You need to intentionally intervene in the market and in culture to make the easiest and the cheapest choices the healthiest ones.
If you insist for ideological reasons that we cannot do that then rates of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and obesity will skyrocket. We've been running the experiment on ourselves for decades and the results are clear. Some people will no doubt say that's the price of freedom. Pass the corn syrup, please.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Opportunist on Sunday February 25 2024, @12:16AM
Should I eat that before or after the meals?