Fasting related to life longer

According to a study on mice, fasting between meals could improve health and prolong life.

And the animals seemed to reap the benefits of fasting regardless of their diet or the number of calories they consumed.

To study the effects of fasting, the researchers divided 292 male mice into two groups. One group received a diet low in sugars and purified fats, but richer in protein and fat than the other. The mice were then divided again into three groups based on feeding times.

The first group could eat when they wanted. The latter received 30% fewer calories per day than the first, while the third group received a single meal corresponding to the 24-hour group diet.

Fasting has been associated with longer life and better health in mice. Getty Images

Researchers measured health and lifespan by noting the natural death of mice and examining their bodies after death.

The two mice fed at mealtime and with limited calorie intake overall had better health, lived longer, and had fewer signs of age-related internal organ damage. But calorie-restricted mice also had better fasting glucose and insulin levels.

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Researchers from the National Institutes of Aging (NIA) of the National Institutes of Health, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana collaborated on the published study in the magazine. Cell metabolism.

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Dr. Richard J. Hodes, director of the National Institute of Aging, said in a statement: "This study showed that mice that ate a meal a day and thus had the longest period of fasting seemed to have a longer life span. long and better results for liver diseases and common metabolic disorders related to age.

"These intriguing results in an animal model show that the interaction of total caloric intake and the duration of feeding and fasting periods deserves closer examination."

Dr. Rafael de Cabo, head of the translational gerontology branch of NIA's intramural research program, said scientists were interested in studying the apparent benefits of limiting calories for more than a century.

"Perhaps this extended daily fast period allows for repair and maintenance mechanisms that would be absent from continued exposure to food," said Mr. de Cabo.

But as the study was conducted in mice, researchers will need to replicate their study in humans to determine if we experience the same effects.

However, the researchers said their findings lay the groundwork for future studies on whether time-limited dietary habits could help humans maintain a healthy body weight and prevent metabolic diseases related to breast cancer. ;age.

In recent years, animal evidence has accumulated in favor of fasting. But concrete evidence to support their benefits to humans remains rare.

James Catterson, from the Institute of Healthy Aging at University College London, who did not participate in the study, recently said: Newsweek Recently, there is more data on animals indicating the benefits of fasting.

"There are also many studies that report no overall effect or sometimes the opposite.And it is there that it becomes a little cloudy, because it is very difficult to put in place appropriate controls when you do not. 39, nutrition studies, "said Catterson.

He concluded: "Until now, the consensus seems to be to wait until more rigorous studies, with larger sample sizes and adapted to confounding behaviors, have been carried out before concluding what be it prematurely. "