Nearly identical findings resulted from a second clinical study (NCT04150159).

These results provide initial support for beneficial effects of the FMD on multiple cardiometabolic risk factors and biomarkers of biological age.

Caloric restriction is among the most powerful life-extending interventions in mice. However, there is a lack of experimental data on its effect on human lifespan. Continuous caloric restriction is also very hard to maintain in humans in real life. Several substitutes have been proposed, such as time-restricted eating (intermittent fasting) and periodic long-term fasting.

USC Leonard Davis School Professor Valter Longo, a renowned geroscientist, has long been advocating for a particular type of caloric restriction, a fasting-mimicking diet (FMD).

FMD Against Fatty Liver and Immunosenescence

In this new study published in Nature Communications, Longo and his team analyzed additional data from two previous studies, focusing on body composition, liver adiposity, metabolic metrics, and biological age. Those studies, which included three FMD cycles, already showed reductions in body weight, trunk and total body fat, and blood pressure without any adverse effects.

Participants who had obesity, elevated CRP, elevated fasting glucose, or systolic hypertension showed an even greater decrease in biological age of 2.9 years after undergoing FMD.

A reduction in biological age is associated with but not equal to an increase in predicted life expectancy. When the researchers tried to estimate the latter, they found that FMD increased median predicted life expectancy from 82.2 to 83.5 years.