A diet that mimics the effects of fasting without starving yourself could extend your life by years, a study suggests.
Researchers found tThat people who followed the fasting-mimicking diet (FMD) for fifteen days reduced their biological age on average by more than two years.
Tests also showed they had a lower risk of diabetes, heart disease and stroke, based on biomarkers in their blood.
The FMD diet involves eating approximately less than 1,000 calories, consisting of low-fat foods, soups, energy drinks and supplements.
It is said to trick the body into thinking it is fasting, releasing enzymes and other chemicals in the body that have been linked to longevity.
Participants ate an FMD consisting of vegetable soups, energy bars, energy drinks, chip snacks and tea for five days, as well as a supplement containing high levels of minerals, vitamins and essential fatty acids.
Professor Valter Longo, a biologist from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, who developed the diet in the new study and is the lead author, said: ‘This is the first study to show that a food-based intervention that does not cause chronic changes in diet or other lifestyle can make people biologically younger.’
The diet used in the study included three five-day cycles on the FMD diet.
On day one, participants ate 1,100 calories, while on days two to five they consumed about 720 calories daily.
Their diet these days also consisted of healthy chip snacks and tea.
The diet consists of 34 percent carbohydrates, 10 percent protein and 56 percent fat on the first day, and then seven percent carbohydrates, nine percent protein and 44 percent fat for the other days.
The participants were then allowed to follow their usual diet for 25 days.
Both groups included men and women between the ages of 18 and 70.
After three months, researchers analyzed blood samples from participants, which showed that patients in the FMD group had lower risk factors for diabetes, including less insulin resistance and lower blood sugar levels.
Chronological age is how long you have been alive, while biological age is how old your cells and tissues are. It is an important measure because it shows how susceptible you are to diseases.
MRI scans also showed a reduction in abdominal fat and fat in the liver, which is associated with a reduced risk of metabolic syndrome, which increases the risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes.
Previous research has suggested that FMD cycles may even lower cancer risk factors.
The FMD cycles also appeared to increase participants’ lymphoid-to-myeloid ratio, which is an indicator of a more youthful immune system.
Further analyzes revealed that FMD participants had reduced their biological age – a measure of how well a person’s cells and tissues function, as opposed to chronological age – on average by 2.5 years.
Researchers believe that the FMD has “rejuvenating effects on the immune system.” In previous studies in mice, the diet caused a ‘rejuvenation of the blood profile’.
The FMD diet also puts cells throughout the body into a protected ‘anti-aging mode’ – an effect that lasts even after fasting.
The body has so-called ‘nutrient-sensing’ pathways, which control autophagy – a kind of ‘housekeeping’ of the body’s cells.
It is constantly going on in the body, removing unwanted byproducts of cell processes.
The more autophagy occurs, the better you feel and the lower your risk of future health problems.
The FMD diet accelerates autophagy, which removes more byproducts and “bad” cells in the body that cause disease and aging.
The study was published in the journal Nature Communications.
It is said to mimic the effects of water-only fasting, while still providing essential nutrients.
With water-only fasting, you drink only water for a certain period of time and do not consume any other food or drinks. People drink water quickly to lose weight or to lower blood pressure.