Intermittent and Periodic Fasting, Aging and Disease (eBook)

This book is a comprehensive exploration of the science and clinical applications of fasting, with a particular focus on its effects on body weight and metabolic disease risk factors. It delves into various fasting methods, including time-restricted eating, intermittent fasting, alternate day fasting, and periodic fasting.

The key concepts explored in this book include the physiological and cellular adaptations to different types of fasting, their impact on body weight and metabolic health, and their potential role in longevity, aging and disease prevention. The book addresses critical questions such as: What are the safety and efficacy of time-restricted eating? How does alternate day fasting affect body weight and metabolic disease risk factors? What are the evolutionary perspectives explaining the clinical benefits of periodic fasting? And how effective is periodic fasting in treating human chronic diseases?

This book is aimed at healthcare professionals, researchers, nutritionists, and anyone interested in understanding the science behind fasting. Readers with a scientific or professional background will appreciate the rigorous research and clinical studies presented in this book. They will learn about the latest findings in this field and gain a deeper understanding of how different types of fasting can impact health, wellbeing and aging.

Krista Varady, PhD, is a Professor of Nutrition at the University of Illinois, Chicago. Her research focuses on the efficacy of intermittent fasting for weight management and metabolic disease risk reduction in adults with obesity. She has been studying fasting for almost 20 years and is one of the top researchers in this field. Her work is funded by the NIH, American Heart Association, and the University of Illinois. She has published over 100 publications on this topic and is also the author of two books for the general public, entitled the 'Every Other Day Diet' and 'The Fastest Diet'.

Emily Manoogian, PhD is a staff scientist and the head of clinical research in Dr. Satchin Panda's lab at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. She has studied circadian rhythms for the past 15 years at the mechanistic and clinical levels. Currently, her research focuses on how lifestyle interventions that optimize circadian health, such as time-restricted eating, can improve a variety of age-related diseases including pre-diabetes, diabetes, cardiovascular disease,  cancer, mental health, and cognitive decline.

Valter Longo, PhD, is the Edna Jones Professor in Gerontology, the Director of the USC Longevity Institute and group leader at the IFOM cancer research institute in Milan, Italy. His laboratories study the fundamental mechanisms of aging in yeast, rodents and humans by using genetics and biochemistry techniques. The focus is on the nutrient-response signal transduction pathways that regulate disease and longevity. This work led to the discovery of the effects of periodic fasting and fasting mimicking diets on multi-system stem cell activation and regeneration in mice, and to clinical trials on a range of age-related diseases.