Summary of The Secret Power of Fasting for Longevity and Healing | Dr. Valter Longo

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00:00:00 - 01:00:00

Dr. Valter Longo, a renowned researcher in the field of aging and related diseases, discusses the power of fasting for longevity and healing in this video. He explains that his discovery, fasting mimicking diet (FMD), offers powerful effects in fasting, and can be applied across various diseases, including Alzheimer's, cancer, diabetes, colitis, and MS. He also highlights that the FMD targets visceral fat, reduces cravings for sweets and starchy and sugary foods, and fosters lasting health benefits. Furthermore, Dr. Longo recommends an ideal diet of 60% vegetables, fish, and legumes, 30% fats, and 10% protein, and stresses the importance of a strong immune system affected by nutrition. Finally, he emphasizes that fasting is a radical change in our thinking about medicine because it treats the underlying mechanisms of diseases linked together through food and specific types of eating.

00:00:00 In this section, Dr. Mark Hyman introduces Dr. Valter Longo, a renowned researcher in the field of aging and related diseases, who has spent his life in pursuit of understanding how to live a healthy, long life without getting sick. Dr. Longo's discoveries have identified major genetic pathways related to age regulation and life-threatening diseases, including a genetic mutation that protects men from many common diseases. Dr. Longo explains that he was always interested in studying aging and how to keep people in good health for longer. He also talks about the limitations of calorie-restriction studies that showed increased longevity in animals but were not feasible for humans due to various side effects.
00:05:00 In this section, Dr. Valter Longo discusses his discovery of the fasting mimicking diet (FMD), which stemmed from his observation that bacteria and yeast starved completely, lived longer permanently. He hypothesized that calorie restriction's basis is actually starvation, and he began studying periodic fasting as a more profound alternative. Humans historically went through periods of starvation, which Dr. Longo believes is what reprograms the system into having long-lasting effects that activate the body's healing system. He mentions that the FMD is also psychologically a better alternative for patients and is effective in killing cancer cells and protecting normal cells. Dr. Longo believes that FMD can be applied across all sorts of diseases, including Alzheimer's, cancer, diabetes, colitis, and MS.
00:10:00 In this section, the speaker discusses the promising intervention of immunotherapy in cancer treatment, which involves making the immune system attack cancer cells that have figured out ways to prevent such attacks by the immune system. However, the speaker suggests that fasting is probably the most powerful natural intervention for longevity and healing, as it allows the body to rejuvenate and repair itself by removing dysfunctional cells and promoting regeneration. Fasting can reduce inflammation in the body but also promote it for attacking cancer cells, and it has been shown to be effective in combination with chemotherapy. The speaker believes that fasting could explain many of the different effects we observe and considers it to be more powerful than any known drug or medical intervention.
00:15:00 In this section, Dr. Valter Longo explains that the fasting mimicking diet (FMD) can be very important for cancer patients, and together with chemotherapy, immunotherapy, kinase inhibitors, and radiotherapy, can play a significant role in treating cancer. The FMD involves short periods of calorie restriction for five days, 800 to 1100 calories, several times a year. It has the ability to treat various ailments, and it takes the place of multiple drugs, providing powerful effects in fasting. The FMD consists mainly of plants, nuts, and vegetables, and ideally, would remain unchanged after several cycles to avoid harm to the body. Unlike ketogenic diets which are the new fad, they can eliminate half of the effect of the fast mimicking diet by adding protein or sugar. Furthermore, Dr. Longo is concerned about people going back and forth between very low and very high carbohydrate diets in a yo-yo like manner, stating that it stimulates too much variation in the programs and could potentially have detrimental effects.
00:20:00 In this section, Dr. Valter Longo discusses the importance of consuming specific plant-rich carbohydrates that are low in the glycemic index, such as broccoli and other vegetables, which make up 45% of the Fasting Mimicking Diet (FMD). He also talks about the prebiotic ingredients in the FMD, which feed good bacteria and have a protective, anti-inflammatory effect on the gut. The combination of the FMD and the specific diet seems to drive the repopulation of the gut in a way that can reverse inflammatory bowel diseases like colitis and Crohn's in mouse models. The FMD is highly nutrient dense for a short period of time, and the stress on the body triggers repair mechanisms that affect the microbiota, inflammation, and regeneration. Additionally, water-only fasting has been shown to make the gut leaky and thus should be substituted with the FMD.
00:25:00 In this section, Dr. Valter Longo discusses the surprising effects of water-only fasting on the gut, where they found it actually made it more leaky but only in combination with a toxin. However, this led to high levels of regeneration and activated intestinal stem cells, resulting in the rebuilding of the gut and the inflammation being moved out. Longo also discusses the mechanisms driving ageing, such as inflammation, oxidative stress, and mitochondrial injury, and how the nutrient-dense short-term calorie restricted diet manages to take care of these issues. While inflammation may cause damage, Longo suggests that it may have always been good for the body, acting as a way to fix problems.
00:30:00 In this section, Dr. Valter Longo explains that the fasting mimicking diet (FMD) targets visceral fat, which is central to insulin resistance and other health problems, making it a highly effective tool for reversing metabolic diseases. The diet causes the body to consume belly fat, which is the fat that causes chronic diseases. Furthermore, the FMD targets visceral fat rather than subcutaneous fat or regular fat under the skin, which is a significant discovery. Another way the FMD fosters lasting health benefits is by reducing cravings for sweets and starchy and sugary foods. The brain recognizes the wellness associated with healthy foods after undergoing a few cycles of the FMD, and people start to have fewer cravings for unhealthy foods. Furthermore, the FMD has a differential effect on lean body mass, where there is a temporary effect on muscle loss but increased relative lean body mass when refeeding takes place.
00:35:00 In this section, Dr. Valter Longo, a longevity expert, discusses the benefits of fasting and the appropriate duration of fasts for optimal health. He believes that 12 to 13 hours of fasting per day are safe, and argues that the average of 15 hours is detrimental to health because it is a result of stretching the fast by frequent meals throughout the day. When the trial went back to 12 hours, people seemed to perform better. Dr. Longo recommends not to stretch fasting to under six to eight hours to avoid issues like gallstone formation. Therefore, he suggests a 60/30/10 diet as an ideal diet, but for specific uses, he suggests modifications like a much lower carbohydrate diet to get people to where they need without risking their health. However, he advises that low-carb diets that are animal-based could be detrimental based on epidemiological data.
00:40:00 In this section, Dr. Longo discusses the importance of a healthy diet and the second-best option for those who cannot follow a strict diet of real food. He recommends a diet with 60% vegetables, fish, and legumes, 30% fats (including animal sources if necessary), and 10% protein (which is around 50-70 grams per day). He also mentions the importance of protein and a varied diet as one gets older, citing examples of centenarians who consumed 100-150 grams of raw meat per day. Dr. Longo stresses the complexity of the field of nutrition, with thousands of food components and millions of genes affected by food, as well as the importance of a strong immune system, which can be affected by nutrition.
00:45:00 In this section, Dr. Valter Longo discusses the role of protein in the aging process and the activation of the mTOR pathway. He explains that while protein activates mTOR, it is only one part of a larger axis involving genes and pathways that naturally decline with age. He suggests that for individuals over the age of 65, there is no significant difference in mTOR activation based on protein intake, and individuals should monitor their IGF-1 levels to ensure they are not consuming too much protein. Dr. Longo also discusses his research on the connection between Alzheimer's and IgF-1, highlighting a study that showed the FASTA mimicking diet may reduce cognitive impairment in Alzheimer's mouse models.
00:50:00 In this section, Dr. Valter Longo discusses the challenges of researching ketogenic diets for older patients and patients with certain conditions, such as Alzheimer's. Although studies have already shown that a ketogenic diet can be effective in treating Alzheimer's, it is important to take into account the potential dangers for frail patients who could pass out from a lack of fluids and salt. Given the risk, it is important to find ways to optimize the ketogenic diet for safety and effectiveness, so that clinicians can more readily implement the diet as a treatment option. Dr. Longo also highlights how difficult it is to challenge the norm of conventional medicine and make changes, citing an instance where nutritionists complained about a study he published that tested the potential benefits of low protein diets for cancer patients.
00:55:00 In this section, Dr. Valter Longo says that fasting is a radical change in our thinking about medicine because it treats the underlying mechanisms of diseases linked together through food and specific types of eating. He explained a study, which showed that a high fat diet might stimulate faster metabolism compared to a high carb diet. However, high fat intake could lead to early deaths, causing the subject to look excellent at first but die quickly. The mice that were given a high-fat diet died earlier than mice on the other kind of diet. Fat has both advantages and disadvantages, and it is unclear whether it hurts the individual or not. However, high sugar diets lead to visceral fat or belly fat, driving many diseases.

01:00:00 - 01:25:00

Dr. Valter Longo explains in the video about the benefits of fasting and fasting mimicking diets, which triggers a program in the body that involves stem cell regeneration, muscle and organ rebuilding, and different processes. He also discusses the importance of a balanced diet that includes good kinds of carbohydrates for long-term longevity, with the focus on finding what works for each individual. Dr. Longo stresses the importance of eating more of the right foods and suggests trying prolonged fasting mimicking diets for five days, three or four times a year, to cleanse the body of harmful toxins. Finally, he hopes that profits from his book and company products will be donated to the Create Cures foundation to fund research on food as medicine.

01:00:00 In this section, Dr. Valter Longo discusses the consumption of carbohydrates and the importance of a balanced diet to prevent obesity and insulin resistance. He argues that the low-carb diet may be beneficial for people that have real problems, but it should be a temporary solution to reset the body and learn how to behave. Long-term longevity lies in the longevity diet, which is a high intake of good kinds of carbs such as vegetable and legumes. He also explains that stem cells can be activated through a fasting mimicking diet, which triggers a rejuvenation program that repairs organs and tissues at the cellular level.
01:05:00 In this section, Dr. Valter Longo discusses how fasting or fasting mimicking diets trigger a sophisticated program in the body, which involves stem cell regeneration and mobilization, muscle and organ rebuilding, and different processes. He demystifies the belief that fasting stresses the body, saying that humans have evolved to have such a program to help them survive when food is scarce. Longo speculates that the program used during anorexic states is the same as that used when the body is first born. This program is activated through fasting or fasting mimicking diets and can make the body break down all components to BMI 13-14, making it a harsh experience. However, as you start eating again, all systems and organs, including muscles, are rebuilt using stem cells and other processes, with over 90% of muscle potentially becoming new muscle within six months of fasting.
01:10:00 In this section, Dr. Valter Longo explains that there is an app developed by Morgan Levine at Yale that tracks ten different markers, including cholesterol and C-reactive protein, which have been shown to be a good predictor of mortality. While there are newer things to check like telomeres and specific gene activities, there is currently no system to say that a particular intervention makes someone younger in a short period. Dr. Longo thinks it is more powerful to look at functional performance, like response to an antigen or the titer of antibodies, which can be measured to help detect how the immune system responds to vaccine or how quickly the liver can get rid of molecules.
01:15:00 In this section, Dr. Valter Longo explains that the profits from the book "The Longevity Diet" and his company's products will be donated to the Create Cures foundation to fund research on food as medicine. They hope to receive funds to investigate the effects of food on human health with the goal of finding a way to wipe out diabetes, reduce cancer by 50%, and lower cardiovascular disease. The focus is to study the science of achieving long-term health by turning on the body's healing and repair mechanisms, which is different from trying to treat diseases and symptoms. The company will be 60% owned by the foundation, which will reinvest the profits into research programs, scholarships, and fellowships to promote healthy longevity.
01:20:00 In this section, Dr. Valter Longo discusses the importance of personalized and trusted sources when it comes to nutrition. He emphasizes that it is not just about following a single dietary principle, such as low-protein or high-fat, but rather finding what works for each individual. Dr. Longo notes that as technology advances, we can achieve radical advancements in longevity and healthy aging, but it requires individuals to take proactive steps towards their health. He presents the concept of his longevity diet, which is centered around eating real food, good fats, and fasting, focusing instead on the details such as finding the right protein source for oneself.
01:25:00 In this section, Dr. Valter Longo discusses the importance of eating more of the right foods instead of getting up when you are 80 percent full. While the Okinawan tradition of getting up when you are 80 percent full might work for Okinawans used to that diet, Americans and Europeans might end up feeling hungry all day if they adopt that tradition. Dr. Longo recommends eating until you are full of fibers, vegetables, nourishments, and minerals to ensure that the brain receives the necessary signals for satiety. Additionally, he mentions that although he often presents the idea of fasting and a balanced diet, he never recommends eating less. He suggests trying prolonged fasting mimicking diets for five days, three or four times a year, to cleanse the body of harmful toxins.