Fasting in focus: What is the difference between intermittent, water and sham fasting?

Veröffentlicht am: August 01, 2024

Nutritionist and dietician

Most of us want to live a healthy, long life. But what is the best way to activate our body's ability to protect, regenerate and rejuvenate cells?

Sugar greatly accelerates the ageing process

Longo studied the effects of starvation on yeast cells and discovered that sugar promotes the ageing process and premature death. This occurs, at least in part, through the activation of two genes known as Ras and PKA. Longo explains:

"Together with Walford, we used human samples and mice. We quickly realized that the lack of knowledge about genes and molecular biology would severely limit us in our further development. We put all our eggs in one basket and used a simple organism in the hope that our findings on the ageing process could be transferred to humans. And I think our hope has been realized. Through our research we have discovered PKA or Ras/PKA. This is the pathway that sugar takes in our body. We also discovered the so-called TOR-S6 kinase, the pathway of proteins in the body."

Scientific research shows that these initial results with yeast can be transferred to other animals, including worms, flies and mice. The scientists also carried out studies on people in Ecuador with Laron syndrome. This is a rare genetic disease. Those affected lack the necessary receptor for growth hormones. As a result, they do not grow taller than 1.20 meters.

Interestingly, this genetic anomaly appears to protect those affected from chronic diseases such as diabetes and cancer - even if they have a less than healthy diet. According to Longo, the results can be applied to most people. We now know that growth hormones and growth hormone receptors regulate both the TOR and MPK pathways in humans.

"We now suspect that there is a network that starts with the growth hormone and ends with these transcription factors that we have described. We call them 'protective captains'. They are regulated by ingested food," reports Longo.

No sugar and regular fasting promote a long life

Longo was one of the first researchers to identify sugar as a substance that accelerates the ageing process and fasting as a method to improve longevity. In 1997, he published his research showing that yeast cells lived longer when exposed to starvation. Shortly afterwards, he and his team discovered the sugar and protein pathways responsible for this phenomenon.

Basically, knocking out both Ras/PKA and LCH-9 (the S6 kinase gene) causes yeast cells to live up to five times longer. Longo noted: "It was clear that fasting had these effects, at least in part, after knocking out these two pathways." The question, however, was: Can the results be transferred to humans?

Longo searched for equivalent pathways and genes. Research by John Kopchick and André Barki showed that a growth hormone deficiency and a growth hormone receptor deficiency in mice extended the animals' lifespan by a record-breaking 40 to 50 percent. They were also much healthier than normal mice. Half of them were completely free of disease at the time of their death.

Longo notes:

"That was very impressive and remarkable. We now knew that our discoveries applied to yeast and mice. With the help of the Laron study, we were able to show that they could also be transferred to humans. Let's summarize once again: Our health and lifespan are promoted by

a) a low growth hormone level or

b) a lack of receptors for growth hormones

so it doesn't matter whether you switch off growth hormones or the corresponding receptors."

They need growth hormones (like insulin), but not to a high degree

Strength training is usually regarded as a method of strengthening health. For example, it stimulates the production of growth hormones. So how can the health benefits and the body's need for growth hormones be reconciled with the negative effects they have on our lifespan?

Longo explains:

"It's quite comparable to insulin. We all need insulin. However, too much insulin leads to insulin resistance and diabetes. In our case, it's not so much about the growth hormone, but about IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor 1). The activity of the growth hormones can be determined quite well by the IGF-1 level. People suffering from Laron syndrome, for example, have very low growth hormone activity and low IGF-1 levels.

It is often claimed that a low-protein diet restricts the production of growth hormones or increases the activity of growth hormone receptors when IGF-1 levels are low. The two therefore go hand in hand. However, there are always events in which the two separate. Growth hormones act directly on TOR [and] on insulin and probably almost every pathway you can think of. So they're certainly not one and the same thing. But it's much easier to determine IGF-1 levels."

The benefits of a low-protein diet

Longo advocates significantly limiting protein intake. Most Americans consume far too much protein for optimal health. Longo recommends consuming no more than 0.31 to 0.36 grams of protein per pound of body weight. For most people, that means they would need to reduce their protein consumption by about two-thirds. If you weigh about 70 kg, you only need about 50 g of protein a day.

Why so little?

This is related to the way in which the protein interacts with the mTOR pathway. This interaction is involved in the development of age-related diseases and accelerates the ageing process. Proteins control the IGF-1 pathways, which in turn control TOR and PKA signaling.

If the TOR pathway is deactivated - either through a low-protein diet or the supplement berberine - you are protected from the consequences of the ageing process. The researchers also discovered that deactivating the TOR and PKA pathways promotes regeneration. Conversely, this means that if you eat too much protein or too much food, your regenerative potential is put on hold.

As soon as you eliminate these damaging influences, your stem cells are activated. If you then consume food, your body goes through a major regeneration and rejuvenation phase. This is partly why intermittent fasting or mock fasting is so much better for this than constantly restricting your calorie intake. The "magic" actually happens as soon as you resume eating after a period of abstinence.

So if you only cut calories and don't take advantage of the benefits just mentioned, you are missing the opportunity to strengthen or optimize your body. Starvation triggers a cleansing process (autophagocytosis) in the body and activates stem cells, while the reintroduction of food rebuilds and strengthens your health - both of which are essential for you. According to Longo, mock fasting is also a real solution for treating cancer, because "we have clearly shown that it can eliminate harmful cells, significantly many damaged cells."

When and why higher protein intake can be useful

As with many things, the devil is in the detail. Every now and then you need additional protein to maintain your muscle mass or to optimize your strength training.

We recommend that you increase your protein intake by 25 percent on days when you exercise. On all other days, stick to the previously mentioned amount of about 0.3 g of protein per pound. Higher protein consumption does not appear to offer any benefits in terms of muscle building.

"We all need proteins. There is no doubt about that. However, our data suggests that more than 0.31 to 0.37 g of protein per pound does not provide any benefits for muscle building. So in our studies, it made no difference whether athletes received this amount, a little more or a lot more. In fact, about 30 to 35 g of high-quality protein per training session optimized muscle synthesis. Higher amounts of protein did not result in higher muscle growth. Stem cells could be partly responsible for this.

Or cellulite cells. We are currently conducting another study. High protein levels can actually block the activation of cellulite cells, which can contribute to the problem... Keep [your protein intake] at normal levels and increase it by 20 to 25 percent on the days you exercise.... That way you can increase your muscle mass."

Older and frail people may also need a higher protein intake to prevent sarcopenia (age-related muscle wasting), but not much more. Longo recommends increasing protein intake by 10 to 20 percent at the age of 65. This is the age at which most people start to lose lean body mass. "I think as long as your lean body mass doesn't decrease, you don't need to worry. As soon as this age-related loss sets in, both muscle training and increasing protein intake are important."

Fasting - a metabolic intervention that increases your lifespan

It may not seem very plausible at first, but water fasting for several days is actually one of the most effective interventions in the human metabolism. No other form of nutrition can achieve anywhere near the same results. The reason for this is that water fasting puts your cells into a protective "anti-ageing mode".

It promotes autophagocytosis and replaces cell components with newly generated functional components by activating stem cells.

"I have done three five-day water fasts in the last three months. After talking to Longo and the fact that I'm healthy and don't have insulin resistance, I plan to do this every quarter. Many people with insulin resistance could probably benefit from this method. They would just need to be properly prepared for it, then nothing stands in the way of doing it every month. An important step that made water fasting easier for me was getting into the habit of fasting for 20 hours every day for at least a month (intermittent fasting)."

If you take medication regularly, please speak to your doctor in advance. Some medications must be taken during a meal to be fully effective or to avoid toxic side effects. It may also be necessary to adjust the dose once your body chemistry normalizes.

People who take medication to lower blood sugar levels or blood pressure are particularly at risk, as there is a danger of overdosing. You should also continue to take food supplements during fasting. Taking magnesium can lead to very soft stools. You should also consume high-quality salt. Certain health conditions may also require closer medical supervision to ensure your safety while fasting.

Longo does not focus so much on pure water fasting or daily intermittent fasting of 20 hours. Some study results suggest that intermittent fasting of more than 13 hours may increase the risk of gallstones by about 5 percent, as well as other unintended side effects. He also found that people who lived to be over 100 years old did not reach that age due to daily intermittent fasting of more than 20 hours.

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Water fasting compared to sham fasting

Longo's mock fast is not a pure water fast. In sham fasting, you restrict your calorie intake to 800 to 1,100 calories per day for five days a month. In other words, you do not completely abstain from food. This diet helps us to stick to the "rules" better than pure water fasting. A low-calorie diet also reduces the risk of side effects without having to forego the many benefits.

"We started working with cancer patients about 10 years ago.... The National Cancer Institute... funded research for us to develop a sham fasting diet.... Because there were both compliance and safety issues with completely abstaining from calories. Pure water fasting or a very low calorie diet was almost exclusively done in clinics. Of course, you could also try it at home, but there is a reason why this type of fasting is only practiced under medical supervision in a clinic.

Pure water fasting interferes fundamentally with your metabolism. This intervention can be dangerous for many people. Hypertension [and] hypoglycemia [are possible side effects]. The purpose of the sham fasting diet is to make fasting itself easier for people, but also to ensure that their health is not harmed. We have seen in our clinical study that serious side effects can occur.

We have observed that a sham fasting diet also causes problems for some people and weakens them. However, these problems are not comparable to those who do pure water fasting... That's why I think the mock fasting diet is the right way to go."

The following groups of people should not fast (neither water fasting nor sham fasting nor any other type of fasting):

Pregnant women
Very underweight people (low body mass index)
People with anorexia
Seniors over 70 years of age (unless you are exceptionally healthy)
frail people or people with liver or kidney disease.

If you have a chronic illness, first discuss your plans with your doctor and ask for close monitoring.

Mock fasting increases the effectiveness of cancer treatment

Sham fasting, an extremely low-calorie diet, was developed to secure the benefits of pure water fasting, including the positive effects on autophagocytosis, stem cell activation, ketone body formation, IGF-1 levels, IGFBP1, glucose, etc. While Longo is a longtime expert in this field, doubts remain that a very low-calorie diet offers as many metabolic benefits as a five-day water-only fast, as long as there is no evidence to the contrary.

In his book, Longo recommends his sham fasting diet to cancer patients in particular. This form of nutrition should not only radically improve the effectiveness of cancer therapy, but also reduce its side effects.

"That was a difficult battle. We work with the best cancer clinics in the world: MD Anderson, Mayo Clinic, USC Norris Cancer Center. We didn't wish for the role of rebel. But we fought for the patients, we fought very hard. However, we wanted the doctors to agree with us. We basically wanted the oncologists to say: "Yes, that's a good way. Let's give it a try." In the end, we were in agreement.

There are now a number of new clinical studies that have almost been completed with hundreds of patients who are sham fasting. I am convinced that the results confirm our theory... [In] advanced cancer, with metastatic disease, [when] there are not many options left, we recommended to oncologists that they should integrate the sham fasting diet into the treatment of their patients. And that's the beauty of this approach. It's easy to incorporate into everyday clinical practice.

We were able to prove the effectiveness of sham fasting with regard to kinase inhibitors, as well as with regard to chemotherapies. All types of chemotherapy, all types of cancer. We now have a wealth of data with many approaches for new therapies. We are currently researching the possibilities in the field of immunotherapy at.... In this way, cancer is made visible to the immune system and can be combated accordingly. As a cancer patient, you should talk to your oncologist and ask them to at least read the clinical studies that have already been published.

There are only minimal safety concerns about sham fasting with a multitude of potential health benefits... In mice, we were able to show that even diseased mice with metastases defeated the cancer. So the mice were essentially cured with a combination of chemo or cancer therapy and sham fasting... I think it's important that oncologists talk to their patients about this and give them a chance to survive, especially when there are no other options on the table."

Mock fasting as an anti-ageing strategy

In his book, Longo cites animal experiments on sham fasting in combination with treadmill exercises. The results showed a better preservation of muscle mass and a reduction in sarcopenia. Interestingly, neither approach worked on its own. In the corresponding study, the mice were fed a low-calorie diet twice a month for four days. The rest of the time they were fed a normal diet.

As a result, they lost visceral fat but not muscle mass. According to Longo, this is where sham fasting " differs from most, if not all, other diets, where fat, water and muscle are always lost through the weight loss process." Longo's research also shows that sham fasting reduces inflammation and inflammatory diseases such as dermatitis.

Cancers are reduced by almost 50 percent. It is important to note in this context that cancers are also delayed and many tumors are benign rather than malignant. Cognition is also improved. Mice that were subjected to sham fasting twice a month showed better cognitive performance than mice that were fed a normal diet.

The immune system is strengthened, even rejuvenated. Risk factors for diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer decrease and markers for a progressive ageing process improve.

"As expected, this diet affects multiple body systems and causes regeneration at all levels. This leads to rejuvenation and increased performance," explains Longo.

Further information

One of the most important messages in Longo's book is the importance of different nutritional phases - episodic fasting and eating is actually the key to success. You avoid the negative effects of continuous fasting or chronic malnutrition.

Longo adds:

"I would also like to point out that you don't have to do a mock fast every month. You can if you like. And in fact, we recommend that people who are obese, have high cholesterol and suffer from high blood pressure do a mock fast every month until they are healthy. But if you don't belong to this risk group, one session every three months is sufficient: every 90 days you do a mock fast for five days, which is very sensible.

Our research proves a long-lasting effect of sham fasting. After three sham fasting cycles, we were still able to detect around 60 percent of the changes three months after the end of the third cycle. So sometimes it takes three to six months for the positive effect of sham fasting to wear off."

Summary

Fasting is an effective anti-ageing method. It strengthens the body's ability to promote the regeneration of cells and protect them, which leads to rejuvenation.
Researcher Valter Longo and his team at the Longevity Institute at USC developed the so-called Fasting Mimicking Diet. The aim is to achieve the same health benefits as water fasting, while at the same time reducing restrictions, which should make this diet easier to follow.
Hunger triggers autophagocytosis, i.e. a cleansing process of the cells, and activates stem cells. The renewed intake of food promotes the rebuilding of the cells. Both phases are important for optimal health, which is why fasting and eating periods should always alternate.
Mock fasting reduces inflammation and inflammatory diseases as well as cancer by almost 50 percent. Cognitive performance and immune function are also strengthened.
Overall, sham fasting reduces the risk factors for diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer; certain markers for a progressive ageing process also show improvements.

In an interview, Dr. Valter Longo, a researcher and director of the Longevity Institute at the University of Southern California (USC), answered this question after more than two decades of research.

He describes his findings in his recently published book "The Longevity Diet: Discover the New Science Behind Stem Cell Activation and Regeneration to Slow Aging, Fight Disease, and Optimize Weight". It also contains all the relevant research findings that support the diet he has developed.

Early on in his career, Longo researched the effects of calorie restriction as part of his doctoral thesis with Dr. Roy Walford, a pioneer in his field at the time. This involved limiting daily calorie intake - regardless of the food used.

As a rule, they consumed only 30 percent or less of their normal calorie intake until they reached a body mass index (BMI) of around 19. It almost goes without saying that this form of abstinence was quite extreme. And for all its benefits, this diet also caused some problems. The researchers eventually discovered that a form of intermittent fasting, known as sham fasting, offered long-term benefits without the disadvantages of constantly restricting calories.

Longo explains: "Our aim was to retain the benefits while eliminating the problems. "And of course I have the advantage of [having a background in] molecular biology and biochemistry. In Walford's day, much less was known."

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