Fasting diet can keep you young

Harvard study explains how plans like the 5:2 protect your cells from aging

Tuesday 07th November 2017 16:35 EST
 

Intermittent fasting can keep your body younger, extend your lifespan and improve your overall health, a new Harvard University study suggests.

Various forms of fasting have been getting hype (and hate) for everything from weight loss to productivity enhancement.

The jury is still out on some of the benefits and drawbacks of fasting, but the new Harvard study finally explains how intermittent fasting can keep the body ‘young’ at a cellular level.

Researchers at Harvard found that temporarily restricting diet keeps the mitochondria – an important part of the cell to health aging – in homeostasis, which in turn helps to improve lifespan.

Fasting is the new juicing lately, as celebrities like Benedict Cumberbatch and, reportedly, Beyonce and Silicon Valley executives alike extol the virtues of the 5:2 diet, which involves normal eating habits for five days a week, but dramatically intake on the other two days.

Some research has shown that intermittent fasting offers no benefits over daily dietary restrictions, but animal studies have found that it was linked to longer life spans.

Last year, Newcastle University research confirmed the crucial role of the mitochondria in human cell aging, and therefore, the aging of our bodies.


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