If you decide to fast, you must know that it requires discipline, but if you do it the right way, you can lose weight, improve your brain health and lengthen your life. Researchers from the University of Southern California performed an experiment and completed the third phase by testing it on humans. Their result was published in the journal called “Cell Metabolism” and it may just turn out to be the first safe and effective diet intervention which could also be prescribed by doctors.
“People find strict fasting very hard to stick to. It can also be dangerous, so we tried and developed a complex diet that triggers the same effects on the human body,” said the study’s lead researcher Valter Longo, director of the USC Longevity Institute in a statement for the press. “I’ve personally tried both and the fast imitating diet is much easier and also much safer.”
This human trial involved 19 participants and was designed to replicate Longo’s yeast and mouse trials. The caloric intake was limited to the participants by 34 to 54 percent once a month for 5 days – just low enough to imitate the effects of fasting. The other 25 days of the month participants returned to their normal eating habits.
Three months later, Longo and his research team measured the participants’ biomarkers and found that they were at a decreased risk of aging, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. They call it the “fasting mimic diet” (FMD) and it was shown to cut belly fat, improve learning and memory skills and increase the number of stem cells ultimately leading to a longer lifespan.
When there is a certain amount of proteins, carbohydrates, fats and micronutrients, our body lowers the amount of hormone IGF – I it produces. This hormone is responsible for promoting aging but was also linked to cancer susceptibility, which means less of it is better. Longo proved the theory before he even demonstrated how to starve cancer cells while protecting other cells from harm.
“All we should do is reprogram the body so it can enter a slower aging mode, but also rejuvenate it through stem cell-based regeneration,” says Longo. “Not everyone is healthy enough to fast for 5 days and the health consequences can be severe for some people who do it improperly.”
Fasting can hurt the human body if it’s not done right. Women who try diets by drinking only water, for example, put themselves at risk of developing gallstones if they aren’t properly supervised, explains Longo. Fasting also isn’t for everyone. People with a body mass index below 18 – which is considered a normal weight – shouldn’t engage in fasting of any sort.
Diabetics also shouldn’t try fasting nor this kind of diets while they receive insulin or other drugs because their body uses up glucose energy supplies before it begins to burn fat. The process of burning fat to convert to fuel also known as “ketosis” makes the blood more acidic, leading to bad breath, fatigue and eventually, kidney or liver damage. This kind of diet is very unique and it allows the person to return to his/her normal caloric intake for a majority of the month. Some fitness experts like Jillian Michaels believe that fasting can have an unhealthy “yo-yo” effect and cause a person to fast and binge cyclically. The trick is to avoid this “yo-yo” effect not cutting calories together but instead limiting them for one week a month and return to your normal caloric intake gradually for the other three weeks.
The research team should meet with Food and Drugs officers soon, says Longo. They’ll work out the details on how to implement the diet safely so that you can prevent and treat obesity. Patients should also try it at home until the testing is completely finished through a randomized clinical trial, which will involve 70 patients during six months.
“This isn’t a typical diet because it isn’t something you need to stay on,” says Longo. “If the results remain positive as the current ones, I believe that this diet will represent the first safe and effective intervention to promote positive changes associated with longevity and health span, which can actually be recommende4d by a physician.”
Source/Reference: http://yourhealthypage.com/
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