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- A study found that a diet that mimics fasting reverses people’s biological age by 2.5 years.
- Participants who followed this regimen had less abdominal fat and healthier immune cells.
- Experts say fasting isn’t for everyone and the diet is harsh.
The fasting-mimicking diet, developed by lead study author Valter Longo’s lab at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, mimics the effects of a water-only fast while providing essential nutrients, according to a press release. It is said to be designed to. Water fasting involves drinking only water for 24 to 72 hours.
In the study, around half of the 100 participants were told to follow the FMD for five days a month for three months, and to eat their regular diet for the other 25 days. . Participants were men and women between the ages of 18 and 70.
Blood tests and MRI scans of the participants showed those in the FMD group were less likely to develop diabetes, and had lower levels of abdominal and liver fat, which are associated with a reduced risk of metabolic syndromes, such as liver disease, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes, the study said. The ratio of lymphoid to myeloid systems also increased. This is an indicator of a more youthful immune system. These factors can be used to determine biological age, said the authors of the study published January 20 in Nature Communications.
Participants were able to eat foods such as soup and energy bars during the “fast”
FMD is a low-calorie diet that is high in unsaturated fat and low in protein and carbohydrates. During the five-day-fast period, participants consumed vegetable-based soups, energy bars, energy drinks, chip snacks, tea, and a supplement providing high levels of minerals, vitamins, and essential fatty acids, provided by L-Nutra, a A nutrition tech company founded by Longo. On his first day of FMD, the participant ingested approximately 1,100 calories, and from day two on, he consumed approximately 720 calories on day five. They could eat at any time of the day.
Longo said in a press release: “This is the first study to show that a food-based intervention that does not require chronic diet 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.”
“It would need to be rolled out to lots more people in different demographic and health groups to really understand how beneficial fasting is for everyone,” professor Clare Bryant, who researches innate immunity at Cambridge University, UK, and was not involved in the study he told Business Insider.
Previous studies in mice have shown that FMD is associated with stem cell regeneration and reduced chemotherapy side effects.
David Clancy, a lecturer who studies the biology of aging at Lancaster University, UK, who was not involved in the study, told BI: “It’s not unreasonable to think that, during ages 40 to 60 at least, this regime twice per For people with high BMI, blood pressure, and blood sugar levels, each year can add 3 to 4 years to their healthy life expectancy, and possibly even more.”
But he noted that the diet was “pretty harsh” and people could struggle to get through the working day towards the end. “It would be wise to schedule days four and five on the weekend,” he said.
Clancy says that by developing smart exercise habits, you can achieve similar or even better results that can be maintained into older age.
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