The choice seems to be forced: either you eat little or you risk a aging tiring.
The main indication to enjoy one longevity in health is, in fact, to reduce caloric intake. And most importantly, don’t eat late at night. Following in the footsteps of Hippocrates who taught how to make food his own medicine, the specialists of the Italian Society of Internal Medicine have elaborated an extensive review of the scientific literature dedicated to the impact of diet on longevity.
According to the results of the survey, limiting the intake of calories causes cells to enter the so-called “protection mode”. Enabling them to better resist external insults. And, at the same time, the cells put to diet they satisfy their needs through a sort of self-cannibalism (autophagy) of the aged and not very functional components.
This means that calorie restriction sets in motion a kind of internal cleansing. «Which – recall the internal medicine specialists – in addition to removing deteriorated and potentially dangerous components, it also stimulates cell regeneration». One of the first to shed light on the mechanism of autophagy, with which cells recycle waste substances by acting as a “garbage” for our body, was Yoshinori OhsumiJapanese biologist who in 2016 won the prize for this discovery Nobel prize. With age, however, this mechanism slowly loses its effectiveness and this is how more and more “waste” accumulates in the cells, leading to progressive damage from aging.
This is why autophagy linked to calorie restriction is a key factor for longevity. It is important that the dietary change is calibrated to cut calories without causing malnutrition. It means that vitamin, protein, mineral and water intake must be kept at levels that satisfy the body’s needs. Therefore, an adult with a requirement of 2,000 calories a day should consume between 1,200 and 1,600 calories in the diet. “The evidence of this close relationship between calorie reduction comes to us, for example – he explains George Sesti, president of the Italian Society of Internal Medicine – from the “Calerie” study published in Nature Aging. Sponsored by the US National Institutes of Health, the trial tested the effects of two years of calorie restriction on metabolism in more than 200 healthy, non-obese adults. Result: changing the menu by 25% slows down the DNA methylation processes, linked to many aging processes, after just twenty-four months. It is obvious that any decision must be made with the attending physician.
THE EFFECTS
The calorie restriction has demonstrated benefits on the reduction of body weight, fat mass and total cholesterol. And it seems to have a positive effect on hyperglycemia and the consequent hyperinsulinemia, generally resulting from Western diets rich in refined carbohydrates. Furthermore, a reduced adiposity, especially of the visceral type, could be associated with a better control of the inflammatory state of the body. The specialists themselves, in their analysis, realized that it is impossible not to evaluate the gustatory and comforting value of food as well. So much so as to recommend not a general restriction of the food offer but, in particular, ultra-refined products. There are many and of various categories, from sweet to savoury, from sandwich bread to snacks, united by the fact that they have been “transformed” several times and by often having other refined products such as vegetable oils among the ingredients. , whey or industrial additives, as well as an excessive percentage of salt, sugars e grassi.
AN ALTERNATIVE WAY
Another possible way to lower the total weekly calories is that of intermittent fasting. From the point of view of anti-aging calorie restriction, an effective approach could be to alternate days of almost fasting with days in which one eats carefully. «Among the emerging proposals – he explains Alessandro Laviano, Associate of Internal Medicine at Sapienza University of Rome – there is time-restricted eating. Since the primary inducer of cellular activity is light, this approach suggests restricting the time window in which one can eat to less than 12 hours, better if 8-10 hours, synchronizing it with sunlight. All of this, at least five days a week. It is also known that eating late at night is associated with a greater risk of chronic degenerative diseases.
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