Fasting allows for metabolic changes that have effects on aging. My area of research is the optimization of health in order to age well, to maintain our capacities for the longest time, among others, through the use of calorie restriction mimetics.

In the first four articles, I told you about:

  • the biological bases of fasting (article 1),
  • reasons why fasting can be beneficial for health (article 2),
  • the different types of fasting (article 3) and
  • fasting to stimulate repair and slow down aging (article 4).

I will now talk to you about the possible synergies in the health of aging through the use of mimetics. What is calorie restriction mimetics? Something that mimics the lack of calories?

Running out of calories to live longer

Tableau les impacts de longévité en anglais

Many scientists who study the effects of fasting in clinical studies are also researchers in the field of aging because they are the same cellular mechanisms. It is these processes that allow the greatest increase in healthy longevity.

For example, a rodent that decreases its caloric intake by 30% without causing a nutritional deficit (compared to a normal calorie intake), will live 30 to 50% longer. This is true for all types of living organisms ranging from single-celled organisms to humans.

It is these observations on the effects of calorie restriction that have enabled us to identify the cellular mechanisms responsible for the benefits on longevity and overall health. These mechanisms are inducible; they can be modulated by food intake, such as fasting or calorie restriction, but also by certain molecules found in plants.

There are therefore molecules that stimulate cellular mechanisms that can slow down aging or increase our resistance against diseases. You will understand that these molecules, which have an impact on longevity and on reducing the incidence of disease, will play an important role in prevention in human health. These molecules are called calorie restriction mimetics. Now you are going to say: yes, but what is the link with fasting? Where are these molecules found?

Optimize the benefits

When I realized that it would be possible to act on aging, 10 years ago now, I started to develop an ambitious research program that we set up in 2013. Together with the Concordia University team, we discovered the best calorie restriction mimetics ever described to date. We have demonstrated incredible synergistic effects using multiple cellular mechanisms at the same time. We are not talking about an additive effect here, but synergistic. Benefits which are much greater than the sum of the two separate effects. We were able to achieve results up to 10 times better than previously shown. As our work continues, we are expected to announce other very important results towards the end of 2020.

So, theoretically, we can implement these synergistic effects through intermittent fasting as a novel way to eat (commonly or occasionally) and by adding the benefits of calorie restriction mimetics. I am convinced that the benefits can be significantly higher.

For calorie restriction mimetics, the modulators of primary aging, 7 of those discovered with Concordia University, are in Vitoli products and the two most documented to demonstrate effects in humans are in Vitoli® Healthy Aging.

Vitoli® Healthy Aging contains the best calorie restriction mimetics, in the necessary doses. There are three articles specifically on Vitoli® Healthy Aging in the Vitoli blog, I invite you to read them. By the way, one last point, the olive polyphenols of the Provitol® Complex present in all products are the result of patented technology and are unique to us. I of course recommend that you incorporate intermittent fasting and Vitoli® Healthy Aging for optimal benefits.

 

 

References :

  • Anton SD, Moehl K, Donahoo WT, et al. 2018. Flipping the Metabolic Switch: Understanding and Applying the Health Benefits of Fasting. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2018;26(2):254‐268.
  • Bagherniya M, Butler AE, Barreto GE, Sahebkar A. 2018. The effect of fasting or calorie restriction on autophagy induction: A review of the literature. Ageing Res Rev. 2018;47:183‐197.
  • de Cabo et Mattson, 2019. Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Health, Aging, and Disease. New England Journal of Medecin. 381 (26), 2541-2551. 2019 Dec 26.
  • de Pablos RM, Espinosa-Oliva AM, Hornedo-Ortega R, Cano M, Arguelles S. 2019. Hydroxytyrosol protects from aging process via AMPK and autophagy; a review of its effects on cancer, metabolic syndrome, osteoporosis, immune-mediated and neurodegenerative diseases. Pharmacol Res. 2019;143:58‐72.
  • Eric Simard, 2016. Vivre jeune plus longtemps. Marcel Broquet la nouvelle édition. 365 pages.
  • Leri M, Scuto M, Ontario ML, et al. 2020. Healthy Effects of Plant Polyphenols: Molecular Mechanisms. Int J Mol Sci. 2020;21(4):1250. Published 2020 Feb 13.
  • Newgard, C.B., Pessin, J.E. 2014. Recent progress in metabolic signaling pathways regulating aging and life span. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. Jun;69 Suppl 1:S21-7. Review.
  • Pallauf K, Giller K, Huebbe P, Rimbach G. 2013. Nutrition and healthy ageing: calorie restriction or polyphenol-rich “MediterrAsian” diet?. Oxid Med Cell Longev. 2013;2013:707421.
  • Stekovic S, Hofer SJ, Tripolt N, et al. 2019. Alternate Day Fasting Improves Physiological and Molecular Markers of Aging in Healthy, Non-obese Humans [published correction appears in Cell Metab. 2020 Apr 7;31(4):878-881]. Cell Metab. 2019;30(3):462‐476.