You can only go on a diet for 5 days a month

Anna Stavina, XX2 century, based on Medical Xpress: Scientifically-designed fasting diet lowers risks for major diseases

What if you could reduce the risk of developing life-threatening diseases without changing your diet completely, but only by adhering to a special five-day diet once a month? This is exactly what happened to 71 volunteers who took part in the new study. All participants underwent three cycles of a low-calorie diet. Phase II clinical trials conducted by scientists from the Leonard Davis School of Gerontology at the University of Southern California have demonstrated that this approach to nutrition is beneficial to health.

The diet successfully struggled with known cardiovascular risk factors: elevated blood pressure and biomarkers of inflammation (the level of C-reactive protein was measured in volunteers). The volunteers had decreased glucose levels before meals and the concentration of insulin-like growth factor type 1, a peptide that affects metabolism. The researchers also noted a decrease in waist size and a decrease in the total body weight of the study participants. At the same time, the experimental diet did not affect muscle mass.

In general, according to scientists, the periodic transition to a new diet has led to a reduction in the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, cancer and other age-related diseases. The results of the work were published on February 15 in the publication Science Translational Medicine (Wei et al., Fasting-mimicking diet and markers/risk factors for aging, diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease).

"A new study has proven that people can get significant health benefits by regularly switching to a low-calorie diet. A kind of "fast" affects the aging process," says Walter Longo, head of the Longevity Institute at the University of Southern California. – Earlier studies have shown that this approach is effective when used in mice. But the results of a randomized clinical trial involving human volunteers were obtained for the first time. It turned out that the diet is quite applicable in real life, effective and safe."

However, to introduce a new approach into clinical practice, larger-scale trials will be required, which will be conducted under the supervision of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA, USFDA).

Practically healthy volunteers aged from 20 to 70 years took part in the already completed work.

The participants were randomly divided into two groups. In the first group, the control, the diet did not change – the volunteers were asked to eat the way they used to for three months. Participants from the second group were offered to "fast" periodically – for five days a month, there is only special food produced by L-Nutra. During the "fast" days, the participants consumed from 750 to 1100 kcal, while the amount of fats, proteins and carbohydrates in the food was accurately calculated. By limiting the subjects to food, the researchers wanted to reproduce the effect exerted on the body by strict fasting, in which only water is allowed to be consumed.

At the end of three months, it turned out that the "fasting" participants lost an average of 6 pounds (2.7 kg). Waist size decreased by 1-2 inches (2.5-5 cm). The systolic blood pressure of the participants decreased by an average of 4.5 mm Hg, diastolic – by 3.1 mm Hg. The concentration of insulin-like growth factor decreased by 21-46 ng/ml and reached values associated with a reduction in the risk of cancer.

Then the participants from the control group were also transferred to a "lean" diet – with approximately the same results. The effect remained even after returning to the usual diet.

The researchers also noted that the study participants who were in the "risk group" due to high cholesterol, blood glucose or blood pressure indicators, significantly advanced along the path of health recovery. Interestingly, the fasting blood glucose level decreased only in those volunteers in whom it was initially elevated. The cholesterol level in the "risk group" decreased by 20 mg/dl, and in the rest of the participants – by only 5 mg/dl.

A "lean" diet can be most useful for people at high risk of developing diseases, for example, those with high blood pressure, or those who are obese," explains Longo.

The next step of the researchers will be the launch of large-scale phase III clinical trials involving people who have already been diagnosed with age-related diseases, or those who have an increased risk of such diseases. Scientists also plan to find out whether the benefits of a "lean" diet remain for several months.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru  20.02.2017