Can you live longer without supper?Scientists have found the reason behind

Supper has become a new trend in office workers’ diet takeout?

▎ WuXi AppTec content team editor

Different from ordinary dieting, intermittent fasting can let people relax the stomach to eat, but the meal time is particular about it, for example, it can only be at 10 o’clock in the morning every day Eat between 6 pm, leaving 16 hours hungry.

Many studies in the past have found that this fasting method not only effectively reduces weight, but also allows laboratory animals to live longer!

And the “Nature” paper published today found the reason behind it.

Researchers pointed out that since the effect of intermittent fasting has nothing to do with the total number of calories eaten, but only with the time of eating, then the biological clock must have played a certain role in it. effect.

In order to find the key, the scientist did an experiment. They divided fruit flies that have a biological clock similar to humans into four groups. The first group provides food 24 hours a day and can eat as long as they want; the second group cuts the meal time by half to only 12 hours; the third group every Hungry for a day-fast on the first day, and eat open the next day after you are hungry.

The design of the fourth group is very clever, simulating intermittent fasting. Fruit flies can eat for 4 hours in the first day, and do not eat for the remaining 20 hours. The day after fasting, fruit flies can eat normally all day long.

The experiment found that only the fourth group of fruit flies lived longer-the lifespan of female fruit flies was extended by 18%, and the lifespan of male fruit flies was also extended by 13%.

What’s more interesting is that in the fourth group, the stomach is also hungry for 20 hours. When you are hungry, you are very particular about it.

Only those fruit flies who did not eat supper, hungry from the night, and hungry until noon the next day, the life span has been significantly extended. On the contrary, if you are hungry for 20 hours, if you adjust the meal time to night, the lifespan of fruit flies will not change significantly.

This is why? Subsequent research found that hungry at night helps to activate the cell’s self-cleaning system. This system is called autophagy and has won the Nobel Prize. Cells use this system to repair their own damage. We also know that it is related to delaying aging.

For example, the autophagy reaction is like a cleaner in the cell, but it will only be cleaned until the dead of night. However, eating at night conflicts with the biological clock, and the cell will mistakenly think that it still needs it to stay active, so it will postpone the cleaning process. Day after day, garbage accumulates in the cells.

▲自Phagocytosis won the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (Image source: The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2016. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2021. Wed. 29 Sep 2021.)

“We found that in order to benefit from intermittent fasting, a normal circadian rhythm and autophagy response are required,” said Professor Mimi Shirasu-Hiza, the leader of this study. “A single element is missing. , Diet will not make animals live longer.”

In the paper, the researchers also found that fasting at the right time can make the muscles and neurons of fruit flies become better. Being healthy will also reduce the signs of aging.

Considering that human cells have the same clean-up mechanism, scientists pointed out that this discovery may also have implications for humans. For example, we can change people’s eating habits to extend life. Of course, being hungry is not a pleasant thing. If we can figure out the molecular biology behind it, maybe one day, we will be able to develop related drugs, and take a tablet before going to bed to live a long and healthy life.