WeightControl.com: Would you describe the FMD diet?
Response: The fasting mimicking diet is a five-day long meal program specifically designed to mimic the beneficial effects of fasting while allowing a person to eat and providing the necessary nutrients. The FMD we tested is commercially available and consists of plant-based soups, energy bars, chips, energy drinks, and tea, as well as supplementation with minerals, vitamins, and essential fatty acids. This diet is rich in unsaturated fats and low in calories, protein, and carbohydrates.
WeightControl.com: What are the main findings?
Response: This study found that the fasting mimicking diet lowers diabetes risk factors (such as insulin resistance and HbA1c), reduces liver fat, causes rejuvenating changes in the immune system cell profile, decreases the risks of age-related diseases, and reduces biological age on average by 2.5 years in study volunteers.
WeightControl.com: What should readers take away from your report?
Response: This is the first study to show that a food-based intervention, without a need for chronic dietary or other lifestyle changes or drugs and without significant side effects (ex no muscle loss), can make people biologically more functional and younger by 2.5 years on average based on both changes in risk factors for aging and disease.
WeightControl.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this work?
Response: Although the fasting mimicking diet is already often recommended by physicians in the US and Europe, the findings from this study should encourage more healthcare professionals to recommend periodic FMD cycles to patients; particularly for those patients with higher than desired levels of disease risk factors. Further, this diet is also feasible for the general population that may be interested in maintaining physiological function and a younger (biological) age.
Disclosures: Valter Longo is the founder of and has an ownership interest in L-Nutra; the company’s food products that were used in studies of the fasting-mimicking diet. Longo’s interest in L-Nutra is disclosed and managed per USC’s conflict-of-interest policies. USC has an ownership interest in L-Nutra and the potential to receive royalty payments from L-Nutra. USC’s financial interest in the company is been disclosed and managed under USC’s institutional conflict-of-interest policies.
Citation:
Brandhorst, S., Levine, M.E., Wei, M. et al. Fasting-mimicking diet causes hepatic and blood markers changes indicating reduced biological age and disease risk. Nat Commun 15, 1309 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-45260-9
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Last Updated on February 22, 2024 by weightcontrol