How Fasting Makes Our Cells More Resistant to Stress
There is promising evidence that fasting can help our bodies regenerate and perhaps extend our lifespan.
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Intermittent fasting is now very popular, as restricting meal times seems feasible for many and, apart from weight loss, promises positive effects on health. The various versions of intermittent fasting (IF) include 5:2 (eating normally for five days and fasting for two days), 18:6 (fasting for 18 hours and only eating within a six-hour window), or fasting every other day. Studies have shown that all three types of IF can help slow the aging process and prevent age-related diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and diabetes.
The positive effects of intermittent fasting could also be explained by evolution. Our human ancestors were probably the experienced “fasters” who could indulge in a “feast” in times of abundance and then faced long periods of scarcity in between. Back then, natural intermittent fasting was essential for survival. Daher It makes sense that our body's cells could function well under the harsh conditions of fasting and hunger.
Intermittent fasting may have anti-aging benefits
Scientists have been studying the potential health benefits of calorie restriction for years. Some theories suggest that these are linked to the drop in blood sugar caused by fasting. This in turn makes our cells work harder to use other forms of energy.
Rhesus monkeys, which only eat 70% of their normal calorie intake, have been shown to live much longer and are much healthier at an older age. These anti-aging benefits were also seen in other animals that were put on an intermittent fasting diet.
However, why intermittent fasting appears to have an advantage in the fight against aging is still unclear. This question is complicated by the fact that In all studies conducted on humans, fasting resulted in weight loss. The health benefits of weight loss could overshadow the other benefits gained from fasting alone.
Fasting can prevent cell damage caused by free radicals
Free radicals are highly reactive and highly aggressive oxygen molecules or organic compounds that are produced as intermediate products of metabolism in cells. This is always the case when oxygen is used to an increased extent for energy production. They occur in particular during stressful situations, sport or illness. But also due to external influences such as alcohol consumption, smoking, fast food, UV radiation and environmental toxins such as exhaust gases.
The special characteristic of free radicals: Their chemical structure is incomplete and therefore extremely unstable because they lack an electron.
When free radicals hit other, intact molecules, an attempt is made to snatch their electron from them. If this is successful, these molecules lack the electron, which means that they themselves become free radicals and in turn attack other molecules. In this way, a chain reaction is triggered.
Antioxidants break this chain reaction by transferring the electrons needed to stabilize the free radicals before they can cause damage. However, the antioxidants do not themselves become free radicals, but return to their antioxidant state.
This process is called oxidation. The body normally copes well with this. However, if oxidation takes place on a wider scale due to a large amount of free radicals, the organism is exposed to excessive stress.
Free radicals can also be produced by poorly functioning mitochondria (the cell's power plants). Switching between normal eating and fasting causes cells to temporarily experience lower levels of glucose (blood sugar) than usual, forcing them to use other sources of less readily available energy, such as fatty acids. This can cause cells to turn on survival processes to remove the unhealthy mitochondria and pass them through healthy to replace, which reduces the production of free radicals in the long term.
At the cellular level, processes take place in the body which either repair age-related tissue and cell damage and thus restore the cells to a biologically optimal state. Or they ensure that the body rejects damaged cells, recycles them and replaces them with new, more functional ones. In both cases, one can speak of rejuvenation: either the rejuvenation of the individual cell or the rejuvenation of the cell system.
References
- Patterson, R.E. & Sears, D.D. (2017). Metabolic Effects of Intermittent Fasting. Annual Review of Nutrition, 37(1), 371—393. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-nutr-071816-064634
- Sutton, E.F., Beyl, R., Early, K.S., Cefalu, W.T., Ravussin, E. & Peterson, C.M. (2018). Early Time-Restricted Feeding Improves Insulin Sensitivity, Blood Pressure, and Oxidative Stress Even without Weight Loss in Men with Prediabetes. Cell Metabolism, 27(6), 1212—1221.e3. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2018.04.010
- Gabel, K., Hoddy, K.K., Haggerty, N., Song, J., Kroeger, C.M., Trepanowski, J.F., Panda, S. & Varady, K.A. (2018). Effects of 8-hour time restricted feeding on body weight and metabolic disease risk factors in obese adults: A pilot study. Nutrition and Healthy Aging, 4(4), 345—353. https://doi.org/10.3233/nha-170036
Publiziert
22.7.2024
Kategorie
Health
Experte
Intermittent fasting is now very popular, as restricting meal times seems feasible for many and, apart from weight loss, promises positive effects on health. The various versions of intermittent fasting (IF) include 5:2 (eating normally for five days and fasting for two days), 18:6 (fasting for 18 hours and only eating within a six-hour window), or fasting every other day. Studies have shown that all three types of IF can help slow the aging process and prevent age-related diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and diabetes.
The positive effects of intermittent fasting could also be explained by evolution. Our human ancestors were probably the experienced “fasters” who could indulge in a “feast” in times of abundance and then faced long periods of scarcity in between. Back then, natural intermittent fasting was essential for survival. Daher It makes sense that our body's cells could function well under the harsh conditions of fasting and hunger.
Intermittent fasting may have anti-aging benefits
Scientists have been studying the potential health benefits of calorie restriction for years. Some theories suggest that these are linked to the drop in blood sugar caused by fasting. This in turn makes our cells work harder to use other forms of energy.
Rhesus monkeys, which only eat 70% of their normal calorie intake, have been shown to live much longer and are much healthier at an older age. These anti-aging benefits were also seen in other animals that were put on an intermittent fasting diet.
However, why intermittent fasting appears to have an advantage in the fight against aging is still unclear. This question is complicated by the fact that In all studies conducted on humans, fasting resulted in weight loss. The health benefits of weight loss could overshadow the other benefits gained from fasting alone.
Fasting can prevent cell damage caused by free radicals
Free radicals are highly reactive and highly aggressive oxygen molecules or organic compounds that are produced as intermediate products of metabolism in cells. This is always the case when oxygen is used to an increased extent for energy production. They occur in particular during stressful situations, sport or illness. But also due to external influences such as alcohol consumption, smoking, fast food, UV radiation and environmental toxins such as exhaust gases.
The special characteristic of free radicals: Their chemical structure is incomplete and therefore extremely unstable because they lack an electron.
When free radicals hit other, intact molecules, an attempt is made to snatch their electron from them. If this is successful, these molecules lack the electron, which means that they themselves become free radicals and in turn attack other molecules. In this way, a chain reaction is triggered.
Antioxidants break this chain reaction by transferring the electrons needed to stabilize the free radicals before they can cause damage. However, the antioxidants do not themselves become free radicals, but return to their antioxidant state.
This process is called oxidation. The body normally copes well with this. However, if oxidation takes place on a wider scale due to a large amount of free radicals, the organism is exposed to excessive stress.
Free radicals can also be produced by poorly functioning mitochondria (the cell's power plants). Switching between normal eating and fasting causes cells to temporarily experience lower levels of glucose (blood sugar) than usual, forcing them to use other sources of less readily available energy, such as fatty acids. This can cause cells to turn on survival processes to remove the unhealthy mitochondria and pass them through healthy to replace, which reduces the production of free radicals in the long term.
At the cellular level, processes take place in the body which either repair age-related tissue and cell damage and thus restore the cells to a biologically optimal state. Or they ensure that the body rejects damaged cells, recycles them and replaces them with new, more functional ones. In both cases, one can speak of rejuvenation: either the rejuvenation of the individual cell or the rejuvenation of the cell system.
Experte
Referenzen
- Patterson, R.E. & Sears, D.D. (2017). Metabolic Effects of Intermittent Fasting. Annual Review of Nutrition, 37(1), 371—393. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-nutr-071816-064634
- Sutton, E.F., Beyl, R., Early, K.S., Cefalu, W.T., Ravussin, E. & Peterson, C.M. (2018). Early Time-Restricted Feeding Improves Insulin Sensitivity, Blood Pressure, and Oxidative Stress Even without Weight Loss in Men with Prediabetes. Cell Metabolism, 27(6), 1212—1221.e3. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2018.04.010
- Gabel, K., Hoddy, K.K., Haggerty, N., Song, J., Kroeger, C.M., Trepanowski, J.F., Panda, S. & Varady, K.A. (2018). Effects of 8-hour time restricted feeding on body weight and metabolic disease risk factors in obese adults: A pilot study. Nutrition and Healthy Aging, 4(4), 345—353. https://doi.org/10.3233/nha-170036
Publiziert
22.7.2024
Kategorie
Health
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