Khaberni - A recent scientific study revealed that the secret behind the benefits of fasting in prolonging life might not lie in the abstention from food itself.
The study, prepared by researchers from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and published in the journal “Nature Communications,” suggests that the secret lies in what happens inside the body after the fasting period ends and one returns to eating.
The study indicates that the “re-feeding” phase plays a crucial role in enhancing health and slowing aging.
Caloric restriction has long been considered an effective means of prolonging life, especially with patterns of intermittent fasting. However, the exact mechanism behind these benefits has remained unclear.
Now, the research team led by Peter Douglas has found that the metabolic shift that occurs when resuming eating after fasting is the most important factor.
The study was conducted on a laboratory worm known as “nematodes,” a creature widely used in biological research. During fasting, cells consume their limited glucose stock and then switch to burning fats as the main energy source, in a process controlled by a protein known as “NHR-49.”
However, the surprise was that turning off this protein's activity upon re-feeding seems necessary to achieve the fasting benefits. Experiments showed that continuing the activity of the protein “NHR-49,” and hence continuing to burn fat even after eating, completely negated the effect of fasting in prolonging life.
Although eliminating this protein did not prevent the positive effect of fasting, as it increased the average lifespan of the worms by about 41%, disabling “turning it off” after fasting was sufficient to cancel out this benefit.
Researchers say these findings highlight a neglected aspect of metabolism, the post-fasting phase, where the body resets its internal balance. They suggest that understanding this mechanism could open the door to developing new strategies for enhancing health and prolonging life without the need for harsh fasting.
The research team confirmed that targeting aging itself, as the major factor behind many diseases, could represent a significant shift in medicine, from treating diseases to preventing them and generally improving the quality of life.
