.yoshimo Japanese Nobel prize winner on autophagy

Their study, which saw participants undergo a 58-hour fast, found that the body switches from burning glucose to burning fat for energy during fasting, thus producing ketones, butyrates, acylcarnitine and branched-chain amino acids. The team did not include any obese participant in the study, as obesity is known to change markers during fasting.

The participants had their blood drawn 10, 34 and 58 hours from the start of their fast. Some of the markers peaked at 34 hours, while others had not yet plateaued by the end of the 58-hour fast. All in all, the team was able to identify 44 substances whose levels changed over the fasting period. In past studies, researchers were only able to identify 14.

Among the compounds they identified were two butyrates that were “nearly invisible” at the 10-hour mark but reached “major peaks after 34 and 58 hours of fasting.” Butyrates are naturally occurring chemicals that help maintain intestinal homeostasis by protecting the intestinal barrier and mucosal immunity.

The team also identified tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle-related compounds that “reflect enhanced mitochondrial activity in tissues during fasting.” While previous animal studies have demonstrated that fasting can prolong an organism’s lifespan, the researchers in the present study were looking for unknown health benefits of fasting for himans. autophagy