Why fasting is unhealthier as you get older - Science unscripted

#fasting #healthy #dangerous

If you're eating regularly (and Gabe and I sure hope you are), there's a lever in your body set to 'Normal eating' mode.

All good. Chow down.

If you're fasting, though… let's say for 8-24 hours… that lever gets switched off — and a different one gets switched on.

Now you’re in 'Fasting' mode.

This metabolic switch is good, natural and healthy… but only if your body can switch back to 'Normal' again when you start eating.

Old people (and old animals) can't do that well. They get stuck in 'fasting' mode, and with serious consequences.

Why is that?

Can it be reversed?

And more importantly, could that reversal lead to a longer, healthier life?

Amazingly, the answer to those last two questions is yes — at least in fish.

And in the longer term, possibly for us humans too.

All you have to do is selectively activate an enzyme called AMPK.

We spoke to Adam Antebi, a director at the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing, where the research on killifish was conducted.

STUDY: https://www.nature.com/articles/s43587-023-00521-y

Chapters:

00:00 Intro
00:01 Gabe tried fasting, but Fruit Loops had other plans
01:48 Meet Adam Antebi, director at the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing
02:06 Does fasting actually work? Does it cause people to lose weight?
02:55 A study on how age plays a role in fasting (in fish)
03:50 The older you get, the less effective fasting is (in people and in fish)
04:54 What happens genetically when killifish go on a fasting regiment?
06:05 What's the difference between a fasting phase and a feeding phase? Metabolically?
06:59 When an old, fasting fish goes back to eating regularly, they can get stuck in the fasting phase
07:46 What’s the point of an experiment that forces old fish to fast?
09:16 Can you slide the metabolic levers of a fish (gamma 1, gamma 2)? Can you force them back into food mode after a bout of fasting?
10:05 What happens to a fish’s health when you make it 'younger' metabolically?
10:38 Fish live 10-20% longer when you selectively activate the AMPK enzyme to get back to refeeding
11:23 If fish can have longer, healthier lives after metabolic manipulation, can we humans do it, too?
13:20 How different would the health and longevity effect be if we manipulated the AMPK enzyme in humans? Pharmacologically?
15:32 What would a clinical trial, or experiment, on humans look like?
16:30 Would a human trial on fasting in old age just include old people?
17:43 Why older people should talk to a doctor before they begin intermittent fasting regiment
18:39 Gabe’s neighbor fasted for 3 weeks and ‘looks like a million bucks,’ but that doesn’t mean you should do it, too

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