Longevity And Epigenetic Analysis
Intermittent fasting, the notion of food restriction or withholding from eating outside a given window of time, isn’t a novel concept. Certain cultures and religions in the East, such as Islam and its observation of Ramadan requires followers to not eat or drink from sunrise to sunset for a month, have been around for centuries. It’s been in recent years with growing obesity rates skyrocketing in the United States, that this style has caught on in the West and has turned into a lifestyle choice based on the concept of longevity and epigenetics (environmental and nongenetic factors influencing gene expression).
The idea is based on mitochondrial hormesis, or mitohormesis. Through many studies, it has been demonstrated that during fasting, reactive
oxygen species and metabolites increase and exert a pro-oxidative effect on the mitochondrial network, which can potentially be served to differentially affect dysfunctional mitochondria by facilitating their identification and elimination by autophagic (intracellular degradation) quality control mechanisms [9,11]. The process in due course results in a more resilient and physiological robust mitochondrial network being generated [6] that promotes health by preventing or delaying many chronic diseases, and ultimately extending the lifespan.
Currently, the pool of information to draw from that concerns intermittent fasting is small and very specific. There are many studies that surround the science, as well as positive and negative effects of intermittent fasting but a copious amount of the studies’ participants are rodents. Even when the parameters of the studies are extended to focus on humans, the aims of the study are to examine the effects on elite male athletes and biomarkers of diseases such as asthma and cancer growth [1,2,3,4,7,10]. Only a small number of studies included a small number of individuals that were not male and were not elite athletes in some manner.
While all the research studies previously listed are very well important and significant contributions to the topic of intermittent fasting, I wanted to focus my research more on the general population that are not that physically active or considered to be athletes. I wanted to discover how even though there are several positive and beneficial effects to the body with intermittent fasting, how much stress is the body experiencing while being physical active. My hypothesis is that due to the adaptability of the human body, intermittent fasting won’t have a negative impact on physical performance during exercise.
The idea is based on mitochondrial hormesis, or mitohormesis. Through many studies, it has been demonstrated that during fasting, reactive
oxygen species and metabolites increase and exert a pro-oxidative effect on the mitochondrial network, which can potentially be served to differentially affect dysfunctional mitochondria by facilitating their identification and elimination by autophagic (intracellular degradation) quality control mechanisms [9,11]. The process in due course results in a more resilient and physiological robust mitochondrial network being generated [6] that promotes health by preventing or delaying many chronic diseases, and ultimately extending the lifespan.
Currently, the pool of information to draw from that concerns intermittent fasting is small and very specific. There are many studies that surround the science, as well as positive and negative effects of intermittent fasting but a copious amount of the studies’ participants are rodents. Even when the parameters of the studies are extended to focus on humans, the aims of the study are to examine the effects on elite male athletes and biomarkers of diseases such as asthma and cancer growth [1,2,3,4,7,10]. Only a small number of studies included a small number of individuals that were not male and were not elite athletes in some manner.
While all the research studies previously listed are very well important and significant contributions to the topic of intermittent fasting, I wanted to focus my research more on the general population that are not that physically active or considered to be athletes. I wanted to discover how even though there are several positive and beneficial effects to the body with intermittent fasting, how much stress is the body experiencing while being physical active. My hypothesis is that due to the adaptability of the human body, intermittent fasting won’t have a negative impact on physical performance during exercise.