Fasting Mimicking Diet and Autophagy

Fasting-mimicking diet (FMD) was developed to mimic the endocrine and metabolic effects that water-only fasting, while providing a modest calories and essential nutrients. The health benefits of FMD are caused by several molecular mechanisms, including the reduction of body weight, ectopic fat storage, insulin levels, endogenous glucose production and IGF-1. Autophagy is a catabolic membrane-trafficking phenomenon observed in yeast and mammalian cells. Nutrient deprivation induces autophagy. Autophagy has been proposed to be a fundamental cellular process being linked to aging and the progression of age-related diseases. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effects of consuming two FMD formulations on the autophagy process in the cell.