The effect on health of alternate day calorie restriction: eating less and more than needed on alternate days prolongs life.

Johnson JB, Laub DR, John S.

Source

Department of Surgery, Louisiana State University Medical Center, 2547A Lyon Street, 2nd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94123, USA. jim@jbjmd.com

Abstract

Restricting caloric intake to 60-70% of normal adult weight maintenance requirement prolongs lifespan 30-50% and confers near perfect health across a broad range of species. Every other day feeding produces similar effects in rodents, and profound beneficial physiologic changes have been demonstrated in the absence of weight loss in ob/ob mice. Since May 2003 we have experimented with alternate day calorie restriction, one day consuming 20-50% of estimated daily caloric requirement and the next day ad lib eating, and have observed health benefits starting in as little as two weeks, in insulin resistance, asthma, seasonal allergies, infectious diseases of viral, bacterial and fungal origin (viral URI, recurrent bacterial tonsillitis, chronic sinusitis, periodontal disease), autoimmune disorder (rheumatoid arthritis), osteoarthritis, symptoms due to CNS inflammatory lesions (Tourette's, Meniere's) cardiac arrhythmias (PVCs, atrial fibrillation), menopause related hot flashes. We hypothesize that other many conditions would be delayed, prevented or improved, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, multiple sclerosis, brain injury due to thrombotic stroke atherosclerosis, NIDDM, congestive heart failure. Our hypothesis is supported by an article from 1957 in the Spanish medical literature which due to a translation error has been construed by several authors to be the only existing example of calorie restriction with good nutrition. We contend for reasons cited that there was no reduction in calories overall, but that the subjects were eating, on alternate days, either 900 calories or 2300 calories, averaging 1600, and that body weight was maintained. Thus they consumed either 56% or 144% of daily caloric requirement. The subjects were in a residence for old people, and all were in perfect health and over 65. Over three years, there were 6 deaths among 60 study subjects and 13 deaths among 60 ad lib-fed controls, non-significant difference. Study subjects were in hospital 123 days, controls 219, highly significant difference. We believe widespread use of this pattern of eating could impact influenza epidemics and other communicable diseases by improving resistance to infection. In addition to the health effects, this pattern of eating has proven to be a good method of weight control, and we are continuing to study the process in conjunction with the NIH.

The truth about exercise

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Fast Exercise: The simple secret of high intensity training 
Dr Michael Mosley and Peta Bee investigate the fascinating science behind a radical new approach to exercise, one that is incredibly time efficient. Research done by leading sports scientists has shown the extraordinary impact that *ultra short bursts* of high intensity intermittent training can have, whether you are an athlete or a sedentary couch potato. In Fast Exercise, Michael Mosley, a sloth, teams up with super-fit health journalist Peta Bee to dispel myths and show you how to get the most out of exercise, whatever your age or level of fitness. They offer practical, science based advice and a range of novel work outs designed for the time-starved generation. Workouts that can be done anywhere, anytime and which fit unobtrusively into even the busiest day. This is a book for those, like Michael, who don't enjoy exercising but want to lose fat and stay healthy. It is for those, like Peta, who love exercise and want to get the most from it. It is also for those who are simply curious about how their bodies work.

The power of intermittent fasting

Michael Mosley fasted for two days every week

Scientists are uncovering evidence that short periods of fasting, if properly controlled, could achieve a number of health benefits, as well as potentially helping the overweight, as Michael Mosley discovered.

I'd always thought of fasting as something unpleasant, with no obvious long term benefits. So when I was asked to make a documentary that would involve me going without food, I was not keen as I was sure I would not enjoy it.
But the Horizon editor assured me there was great new science and that I might see some dramatic improvements to my body. So, of course, I said, "yes".
I am not strong-willed enough to diet over the long term, but I am extremely interested in the reasons why eating less might lead to increased life span, particularly as scientists think it may be possible to get the benefits without the pain.

Find out more

How you age is powerfully shaped by your genes. But there's not much you can do about that.

Calorie restriction, eating well but not much, is one of the few things that has been shown to extend life expectancy, at least in animals. We've known since the 1930s that mice put on a low-calorie, nutrient-rich diet live far longer. There is mounting evidence that the same is true in monkeys.
Growth hormone The world record for extending life expectancy in a mammal is held by a new type of mouse which can expect to live an extra 40%, equivalent to a human living to 120 or even longer.
It has been genetically engineered so its body produces very low levels of a growth hormone called IGF-1, high levels of which seem to lead to accelerated ageing and age-related diseases, while low levels are protective.

Professor Longo has investigated growth hormone deficiency in humans

A similar, but natural, genetic mutation has been found in humans with Laron syndrome, a rare condition that affects fewer than 350 people worldwide. The very low levels of IGF-1 their bodies produce means they are short, but this also seems to protect them against cancer and diabetes, two common age-related diseases.
The IGF-1 hormone (insulin-like growth factor) is one of the drivers which keep our bodies in go-go mode, with cells driven to reproduce. This is fine when you are growing, but not so good later in life.
There is now evidence suggesting that IGF-1 levels can be lowered by what you eat. Studies on calorie restrictors suggest that eating less helps, but it is not enough
As well as cutting calories you have to cut your protein intake. Not entirely - that would be a very bad idea. It's about sticking to recommended guidelines, something most of us fail to do.
The reason seems to be that when our bodies no longer have access to food they switch from "growth mode" to "repair mode".
As levels of the IGF-1 hormone drop, a number of repair genes appear to get switched on according to ongoing research by Professor Valter Longo of the University of Southern California.
Intermittent fasting One area of current research into diet is Alternate Day fasting (ADF), involving eating what you want one day, then a very restricted diet (fewer than 600 calories) the next, and most surprisingly, it does not seem to matter that much what you eat on non-fast days.
Dr Krista Varady of the University of Illinois at Chicago carried out an eight-week trial comparing two groups of overweight patients on ADF.
"If you were sticking to your fast days, then in terms of cardiovascular disease risk, it didn't seem to matter if you were eating a high-fat or low-fat diet on your feed (non-fast) days," she said.
I decided I couldn't manage ADF, it was just too impractical. Instead I did an easier version, the so-called 5:2 diet. As the name implies you eat normally 5 days a week, then two days a week you eat 500 calories if you are a woman, or 600 calories, if you are a man.
There are no firm rules because so far there have been few proper human trials. I found that I could get through my fast days best if I had a light breakfast (scrambled eggs, thin slice of ham, lots of black tea, adding up to about 300 calories), lots of water and herbal tea during the day, then a light dinner (grilled fish with lots of vegetables) at night.

On my feed days I ate what I normally do and felt no need to gorge.

I stuck to this diet for 5 weeks, during which time I lost nearly a stone and my blood markers, like IGF-1, glucose and cholesterol, improved. If I can sustain that, it will greatly reduce my risk of contracting age-related diseases like cancer and diabetes.
Current medical opinion is that the benefits of fasting are unproven and until there are more human studies it's better to eat at least 2000 calories a day. If you really want to fast then you should do it in a proper clinic or under medical supervision, because there are many people, such as pregnant women or diabetics on medication, for whom it could be dangerous.
I was closely monitored throughout and found the 5:2 surprisingly easy. I will almost certainly continue doing it, albeit less often. Fasting, like eating, is best done in moderation.

The Two-Day Diet could have saved me from breast cancer... but it is not too late

Broadcaster Jenni Murray previously lost 5st on the Dukan diet but described it as a 'hard and rigid programme to follow'

A diet that doesn’t leave you feeling hungry or deprived, that’s easy to follow and stick to and is clinically proven to keep the weight off seems almost too good to be true.
But when you discover it’s researched by some of the most respected medical specialists in the country, so it’s absolutely rigorous and safe, you have to sit up.
Especially since it claims to help you feel younger, and dramatically reduce your risk of breast and other forms of cancer, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and possibly even dementia.
What’s more, it doesn’t involve the daily fag of counting calories. You just have to restrict your carbohydrate intake for two days a week — preferably consecutive days — and then eat a healthy Mediterranean-style diet normally for the rest of the week. What’s not to like?
Next week, the Daily Mail begins its exclusive four-part serialisation of The 2-Day Diet. And today, your handy Personal Diet Planner to make sticking to it even easier is free inside your newspaper. 
Frankly, The 2-Day Diet sounds like the Holy Grail for those of us who’ve struggled endlessly with the yo-yo of trying to keep weight under control by using every faddy diet on the market.
But this is far more than just a weight-loss gimmick. The 2-Day Diet is proven to help cut your risk of breast cancer by medical researchers who are the best in their field, and who have tested the diet’s efficacy on women at risk of getting breast cancer or of having a recurrence.
Because The 2-Day Diet was researched at the specialised cancer centre in Manchester where my own consultant works, I had heard about its development a couple of years ago. Foolishly, I had not ever considered trying it because I’ve been faffing about with fads rather than a dietary plan that really does work.
Until now.
I’ve known for quite some time that being overweight was a contributory factor in the development of my breast cancer.

Jenni Murray said that she has known that being overweight 'was a contributory factor in the development of my breast cancer'

The hormone oestrogen is the most common cause of the disease in women over the age of 50. Fat is known to increase the amount of oestrogen that’s floating around the body. Add in hormone replacement therapy (HRT) — which I did — and the risk rockets.
Stopping HRT when the oncologist delivers the dread news, ‘Yes, you have breast cancer’ is the easy part. Losing the weight and keeping it off, as anyone who’s been on a diet knows, is extremely tough.
It’s now seven years since I was diagnosed and treated, and my efforts at slimming down and reducing the chance of any recurrence have been well documented in the Mail.
I lost 5st on the Dukan diet, despite the occasional lapse into treacle sponge pudding. But it was a hard and rigid programme to follow, as it bans carbohydrates and even fruit and vegetables when you first take it up.

She first hear about the diet two years ago during an annual visit to her surgical oncologist, Professor Nigel Bundred

I wasn’t convinced that it could be good for my health. I particularly missed eating fruit in the early stages. I had bad breath and felt generally off-colour.
As my resolve slipped, the weight began to creep up again.
I then tried Weight Watchers and lost a couple of stone.
They couldn’t have been more helpful and supportive, but I hit an extra busy time at work and at home and, again, began to lapse. It was hard to think about being on a diet all the time, working out the points of every morsel.
So I faced more failure: more feeling utterly useless; more worrying about whether the extra weight would be raising my risk of recurrence despite the daily tablet, Letrozole, that I take to try and combat the oestrogen effect.
Meanwhile, the rising tide of breast cancer diagnoses becomes quite terrifying. Nearly 50,000 cases are now detected each year. That’s one in eight of us.
I have three really close friends. I was the first to hit the breast cancer buffers in my mid-50s. Then the next followed suit and the next. Only two weeks ago, the last of them called me to say she’d found a lump.
As she’s gone through the process of GP, mammogram, biopsy and setting the day for surgery, we’ve spent hours on the phone as she’s picked my brain to help her make decisions about treatment, draw on me for confidence and reassurance and go through the ‘Why me?’ question we all ask.
And I have no doubt — as we all took HRT, became overweight as we got older, had a far too relaxed relationship with a glass of wine or three and all developed the same strain of cancer — that a concerted effort to lose some of the weight would put us in a better position to prevent any recurrence.
If only we’d known about The 2-Day Diet 20 years ago we might have avoided the state we’re in altogether.
It’s reckoned losing 10lb (or 5 to 10 per cent of your body weight) and keeping it off, can cut your risk of developing breast cancer by up to 40 per cent.
So yes, I first heard about this revolutionary new form of dieting — known popularly, but somewhat erroneously as fasting — two years ago during my annual visit to my surgical oncologist, Professor Nigel Bundred.

Dame Jenni Murray is described the Two-Day Diet, which will be exclusively serialised in the Daily Mail, as the 'holy grail'

He’s a close colleague of the authors of The 2-Day Diet and works alongside them at the purpose-built Breast Centre at the University Hospital of South Manchester.
To me, he looked slender and fit as a flea, although he was convinced he was suffering a bit of spread around the middle.
Professor Bundred had been on what he then described as a brand-new form of dieting which had been developed in the unit by its dietician Dr Michelle Harvie and his close colleague and friend Professor Tony Howell.
Dr Harvie has won awards for her work in the field and Tony Howell is professor of medical oncology at the University of Manchester and research director of Genesis Breast Cancer Prevention.
He’s a leading authority in his field, having specialised in treating breast cancer for more than 30 years. Today, he specialises in research on pharmacological and lifestyle measures to prevent the disease, prevention being generally preferable to the cure!
I was assured by my consultant that any diet produced by these two would be safe, effective and impeccably well researched.

 

'If only we’d known about The 2-Day Diet 20 years ago we might have avoided the state we’re in altogether'

- Dame Jenni Murray

I suppose Professor Bundred and I got on to the subject because he could see I’d lost weight — something he’d been encouraging me to do. But when I explained the strictures of the Dukan diet that I was then following, and the fact that no alcohol at all was allowed on it, he wanted me to know there was a more humane way of getting the same result.
The diet my consultant was on, which was to later evolve into today’s 2-Day Diet, involved two days of restricting your food intake.
At that time, you were allowed to eat only 600 calories on the two fasting days. Today, it’s been adapted so there’s no calorie-counting, just a list of mainly protein-rich foods which you eat on two consecutive days.
For the rest of the week, you eat a filling, enjoyable Mediterranean diet with olive oil, fish, fruit, poultry, wholemeal pasta, brown rice, vegetables, potatoes, occasional red meat and wholemeal bread, all the while just keeping an eye on the size of your portions.
It was a task, Professor Bundred told me, that was far from onerous as the diet was so tasty and filling you really didn’t want to overeat. And he said you can have the occasional drink — obviously not on fasting days, but you could consume up to seven units a week. That was around two big glasses of wine!
However, he was sticking, he said, to the occasional tipple of spirit with a diet mixer because its calorific content is so much lower. A big glass of wine has 260 calories in each one.
It’s the kind of advice you want to hear from your doctor, and I should have taken it then and there. I even took home the photocopied version of what’s now become The 2-Day Diet, stuck it in a drawer, went back to my Dukan and promptly forgot about it. Stupid, see!

The diet involves eating a list of mainly protein-rich foods on two consecutive days and a Mediterranean diet for the rest of the week

Since then, fasting diets have become very fashionable. But the makers of The 2-Day Diet have refined the concept to make theirs even more effective. The science of it centres on the effects of fasting on levels of the hormone insulin.
We need insulin to keep our blood sugar levels under control. But high levels of the hormone — as a result of eating too much carbohydrate — results in more fat cells. When these fat cells divide and grow, there is a greater chance of the new cell being faulty, increasing the risk of cancer.
Restricting the calories you consume appears to lower levels of insulin in the blood, protecting you against some of the major diseases. And, of course, losing the body fat will reduce your oestrogen production, a major factor in breast cancer.
No one seems to fully understand quite why The 2-Day Diet approach works, although it may be just the way we have evolved. As primitive man and woman, we would have been used to periods of feast and famine as food had to be caught or grown. We would also rarely have had much carbohydrate in our diets.
It’s a very different way of eating from the ‘get in the car, stock up and eat supersize portions’ attitude we have now.
Dr Harvie became interested in the research being done in other parts of the world on the impact of fasting on the metabolism, and became determined, together with Professor Howell, to design her own diet and test it rigorously.
Shocked that the average British woman spends 31 years of her life on a diet despite us being the fattest in Europe, and that 66 per cent of British men are overweight, it became plain to Dr Harvie that a better eating plan may have a powerful effect in reducing breast cancer risk and other health problems associated with middle age.
A thousand women agreed to take part in the research: some followed the 2-Day Diet plan, others followed a basic daily calorie-control diet.
Overwhelmingly, the 2-Day dieters did the best. They had a 15 per cent greater reduction in their insulin function than the daily dieters, lost more inches from around the waist and, vitally, 65 per cent of them lost weight.
That’s a fantastic success rate, given the average recidivism rate for dieting (that’s losing, then regaining the weight within a year) is 95 per cent.
I only wish I had paid attention to those pioneering scientists all those years ago. But it’s not too late.
Next week I will be following The 2-Day Diet along with you readers.
Him Indoors — not necessarily at risk of breast cancer, although a small number of men do get it — is interested because of the other health gains that have been shown to be the result of the diet. We are going to do it together.
We won’t look on it as a diet but as a healthy eating plan for the rest of our lives.
Time to get started. Good luck with it!

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2275971/The-Two-Day-Diet-saved-breast-cancer--late.html#ixzz2MnfV0Sso

Intermittent Fasting is a Natural, Effective Treatment for Asthma

Dr. James Johnson wrote the book, The Alternate Day Diet. His website (link below) calls it the Up Day Down Day Diet.

His regimen is different from mine. He alternates calendar days, eating as much as you want one day, and 20% to 50% of your maintenance calories the next. I'll post my experience with his method later, but for now I want to focus on his results with treating asthma patients. The following is from his website (http://www.johnsonupdaydowndaydiet.com/html/diet-science.html#the-asthma-study):

The Asthma Study

Dr. Johnson conducted the first study that examined the ability of alternate-day calorie restriction to treat symptoms of disease in humans. He selected asthma because it is associated with obesity and inflammation, and its symptoms are very easy to observe and monitor. Twenty overweight people with asthma were chosen to participate in the study. Every other day, they were allowed to eat as they normally would, and on alternate days they were instructed to consume no more than 20 percent of their normal caloric intake. Only one person was not able to comply with the diet. At the end of the eight-week study, the participants had lost, on average, about 8 percent of their initial body weight. They all experienced a drastic improvement in their asthma symptoms as well as increased energy. In addition, their nitrotyrosine levels, a measure of oxidative stress and an indicator of heart disease, decreased by 90 percent, and their levels of TN-alpha, a marker of inflammation, were reduced by two-thirds.

By demonstrating the anti-inflammatory effect of alternate-day calorie restriction on asthma sufferers, Dr. Johnson believes that this diet has the potential to have profound effects on other diseases associated with inflammation and aging, including heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer's.

The asthma study also showed that many of the health benefits of alternate-day dieting take effect in a very short period of time. Although the study lasted eight weeks, most of the improvement took place in the first two to three weeks of the study. Dr. Johnson believes that the SIRT1 gene is the reason why the diet is so effective, and SIRT1 levels are increased very quickly after the gene is activated.

In his book, The Alternate Day Diet, Dr. Johnson devotes chapter 4 to this study, and gives the actual measurable, clinical results. It's amazing, really. Who would have thought you could achieve a near complete remission in symptoms, with no medication? But that is essentially what happened, simply by restricting the patients' food intake every other day.

Even for those of us without asthma, the inflammation reducing effects of alternate day fasting can have profound effects. In my own case, it's rheumatoid arthritis I struggle with, and in my next post I'll talk about the effects of IF so far in my effort to beat this disease.

Bon repos,
Tom
http://eatingandfasting.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/intermittent-fasting-is-natural.html

The Truth about exercise

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High Intensity Training - Horizon: The Truth About Exercise