PIXABAY, MOJZAGREBINFOIn animal studies, bouts of fasting are shown to protect against aging-related diseases, suggesting that periodic fasting may benefit humans, too. But to cut out food for days at a time is no easy feat for most people, so researchers have designed a diet that mimics fasting without making dieters completely abstain from eating.
A short-term study of the diet in a small group of people published today (June 18) in Cell Metabolism yielded promising results. Biomarkers predictive of cancer, diabetes, and heart disease risk dropped among participants on the fasting diet, compared to those who maintained their normal eating habits.
“This single dietary change can counteract all these variables of aging, and I think that’s very impressive,” molecular biologist Christopher Hine of the Harvard School of Public Health told Science.
The researchers who conducted the study did not actually measure whether people’s health improved. Valter Longo of the University of Southern California who led the work told The Telegraph, “I think based on the markers for ageing and disease in humans it has the potential to add a ...
