Slow aging from the inside out

How much money do you spend on anti-aging creams, potions, facial treatments and supplements to stop aging? The anti-aging industry is booming these days with all sorts of products which claimed to hold back time.
Whether your approaching 30 or 75, the anxieties are still the same. Will I look good, will my body perform, will I be attractive, how about my sex-life?

Now there’s a new approach which doesn’t cost anything, in fact will save you money and help with longevity and anti-aging.

Recent research has shown that fasting is a good way to improve aging and prevent disease. Intermittent fasting and periodic fasting (lasting 2 -21 days) have shown benefits for a range of diseases including diabetes, heart disease, cancers, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s (1).

Ways that fasting improve health include cellular stress response pathways that improve DNA repair; metabolic effects; regeneration of stem cells; and improved mitochondrial function.

DNA

But this month, new research shows another mechanism for why fasting works so well for anti-aging. It’s all to do with a small machine called a ribosome. Ribosomes make protein and like any machine they can go fast or slow. What researchers at Brigham Young University found was that when ribosomes go slower it slows down the aging process. We knew already that you restrict your food intake there’s an almost linear increase in lifespan.
What we need to find out is all the ways and mechanisms by which the body benefits from fasting: and there are more than one. Ribosomes are like the moving parts of a production line. From time to time they need repairs and going slower means more repairs can be carried out. Ribosomes are therefore healthier and are better at producing high quality proteins. Which is one way our bodies stay younger.
However, while fasting or restricting calorie intake sounds like a good principle, it’s still important to eat good quality food when you do eat. No point starving all day and then stuffing yourself with poor quality fuel, like fast food or processed food. Just like an automobile, it needs good quality fuel and oil.

So, if you want to be a classic car, you’ve got to have the right fuel, but also the right servicing and maintenance. No amount of detailing and wax will hide the poor performance under the hood.
In my next blog, I’ll look into fasting, what it means and how you do it

References
1) Ageing Res Rev. 2016 Oct 31. pii: S1568-1637(16)30251-3. doi: 10.1016/j.arr.2016.10.005.
Impact of intermittent fasting on health and disease processes.
Mattson MP1, Longo VD2, Harvie M3.

2) Andrew D. Mathis, Bradley C. Naylor, Richard H. Carson, Eric Evans, Justin Harwell, Jared Knecht, Eric Hexem, Fredrick F. Peelor, Benjamin F. Miller, Karyn L. Hamilton, Mark K. Transtrum, Benjamin T. Bikman, John C. Price. Mechanisms of In Vivo Ribosome Maintenance Change in Response to Nutrient Signals. Molecular & Cellular Proteomics, 2017; 16 (2): 243 DOI: 10.1074/mcp.M116.063255