Originally Posted by
Carbonfiberboy
Hilarious. I just did The Google, except I googled "fasting and longevity
studies". No human studies came up, just fruit flies and mice.
I followed all four study links for "Sources Cited" in the bluezones article. The only one which led to a human study was titled: "Exercise-induced BCL2-regulated autophagy is required for muscle glucose homeostasis" Nothing to do with fasting. Autophagy is a natural process which happens to everyone. It just means "cell turnover". Cell turnover means cells are removed and new cells created.
More about cell turnover here:
» How quickly do different cells in the body replace themselves?
So please post links to the human studies showing that fasting increases longevity, as published in peer-reviewed journals. Period.
I followed the links too, and had the same reaction. I have no training in microbiology whatsoever, and struggled to pass basic chemistry, but most of what I saw appear to discuss events on a cellular level. That is fine, but it is a huge jump from there to the notion that intermittent fasting extends human lifetimes. I remain skeptical.
Noodling around those references, I found this article:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3680567/
Noteworthy to me was this quote:
"
People should also be wary of books written for broad audiences that explain the science behind fasting or any other health trend, he says. One purpose of writing a book for the consumer market, after all, is to sell as many copies as possible. Authors tend to present only evidence supporting their point of view, suggests Freedland, while ignoring evidence that contradicts it. “It’s a lot of spin when you write a book.”
That statement was of interest to me because it (1) reflects my suspicions about the health trends, especially those that seem to promise the impossible or everything and (2) the guy they are quoting is my urologist!
That said, there is probably also no harm associated with intermittent fasting by an otherwise healthy person, so if it floats your boat, give it a try.
Also interesting is that if it includes not eating anything for 12-24 hours I've been doing that for years. I spent the last 25 years rising early, hopping on my bike, and riding to work first thing in the morning. From that point, I'll have a cup of coffee, and maybe some tea until lunch. That would mean that I would have been fasting at least 15 hours 5 days a week. I didn't regard it as fasting ... I just didn't want to take the time to eat and I didn't seem to need it to ride the 17 miles to work. I'd also have a very light lunch, top off the tank with a bowl of oatmeal for the ride home (I also carried food just in case cuz bonking sucks), and have a large evening meal.