
Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Health, Aging, and Disease - vo2maxer
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMra1905136
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vo2maxer
Conclusions:

Preclinical studies and clinical trials have shown that intermittent fasting
has broad-spectrum benefits for many health conditions, such as obesity,
diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, cancers, and neurologic disorders.
Animal models show that intermittent fasting improves health throughout the
life span, whereas clinical studies have mainly involved relatively short-term
interventions, over a period of months. It remains to be determined whether
people can maintain intermittent fasting for years and potentially accrue the
benefits seen in animal models. Furthermore, clinical studies have focused
mainly on overweight young and middle-age adults, and we cannot generalize to
other age groups the benefits and safety of intermittent fasting that have
been observed in these studies.

Although we do not fully understand the specific mechanisms, the beneficial
effects of intermittent fasting involve metabolic switching and cellular
stress resistance. However, some people are unable or unwilling to adhere to
an intermittent-fasting regimen. By further understanding the processes that
link intermittent fasting with broad health benefits, we may be able to
develop targeted pharmacologic therapies that mimic the effects of
intermittent fasting without the need to substantially alter feeding habits.

Studies of the mechanisms of caloric restriction and intermittent fasting in
animal models have led to the development and testing of pharmacologic
interventions that mimic the health and disease-modifying benefits of
intermittent fasting. Examples include agents that impose a mild metabolic
challenge (2-deoxyglucose, metformin, and mitochondrial-uncoupling agents),
bolster mitochondrial bioenergetics (ketone ester or nicotinamide riboside),
or inhibit the mTOR pathway (sirolimus). However, the available data from
animal models suggest that the safety and efficacy of such pharmacologic
approaches are likely to be inferior to those of intermittent fasting.

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mdorazio
Thanks. I’m still waiting for any conclusive evidence at all that long-term
intermittent fasting in healthy, active humans with good diet has significant
positive effects. So far everything seems like snake oil.

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troydavis
Full text PDF:
[https://www.gwern.net/docs/longevity/2019-decabo.pdf](https://www.gwern.net/docs/longevity/2019-decabo.pdf)

