It seems more and more new info comes to light regarding the relationship between fasting and living longer.
There are some great medical breakthroughs in the works to reverse the aging process, but for now, they only benefit mice.
We know that Ponce de Leon never found the Fountain of Youth, but we can see how that whole rumor might have started – maybe the poor guy was just really hungry and began looking younger because of it. We’re about to learn how that can happen.
Research now shows that if you skip a few meals and you may add years to your life. Of course, when you do eat, you want healthy foods. That’s the science we’re now seeing according to a study released by Scientific Reports this year.
58 hours seems to be the threshold where your body kicks into high gear producing all kinds of wondrous internal biological events including kickstarting youthful plasticity in mitochondrial networks. Good job, me!
“We have been researching aging and metabolism for many years and decided to search for unknown health effects in human fasting,” said Dr. Takayuki Teruya, first author of the paper.
“Contrary to the original expectation, it turned out that fasting-induced metabolic activation rather actively.” The results are possibly a longer life.
The results revealed 44 metabolites, including 30 that were previously unrecognized, that increased universally among subjects between 1.5- to 60-fold within just 58 hours of fasting.
Yes, that’s a long fast by any means but the consensus is the average adult could last anywhere from 8 days to 12 weeks without food. The science of fasting is also extensively covered by these online nutritionists.
Personally, we’d rather eat periodically and get more exercise, maybe skip a little rope as the stars do. Elon Musk even has fasting as part of his healthy weight management regime.
So bing watch Stranger Things twice without snacking and that’ll kick start those age-reversing metabolites. You might feel as young as the cast – even if you don’t look it.
Remember, ALWAYS stay hydrated and drink plenty of water. You can’t last without fluids. Don’t make me post a picture of a cow skull in the desert to drive that point home.
So what are these metabolites? No, not a hairband from the 80’s. Metabolites have various functions, including fuel, structure, signaling, stimulatory and inhibitory effects on enzymes.
In a nutshell, substances formed during the chemical processes that grant organisms energy and allow them to grow.
Sadly for humankind, these metabolites decrease as we age, perpetuating our aging. But there’s hope, by fasting! Various metabolites whose quantities decline with age, including three known as leucine, isoleucine, and ophthalmic acid, increase in level, suggesting a mechanism by which fasting could help increase longevity.
If you’re a foodie, then maybe you just need to relocate to a place where everyone seems to live forever, it seems.
Our bodies are ruthless bandits when it comes to taking from one resource to feed another. When starved of carbs, the body begins looting its alternate energy stores. But fasting appears to elicit effects far beyond energy substitution.
For example, it was discovered that a global increase in substances produced by the citric acid cycle, is a process by which organisms release energy stored in the chemical bonds of carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids.
During fasting, the tiny powerhouses running every cell are thrown into overdrive. If that doesn’t turn back the hands of time it should at least slow it to a crawl!
Hats off to fasting experts Prof. Mitsuhiro Yanagida and Dr. Takayuki Teruya of the G0 Cell Unit. They recently published a paper with Kyoto University on the effects of fasting on human metabolism. Does anyone want to guess their age?
