Caloric restriction has consistently been shown to extend lifespan and ameliorate aging-related diseases. These effects may be due to diet-induced reactive oxygen species acting to upregulate sirtuins and related protective pathways, which research suggests may be partially inhibited by dietary antioxidant supplementation. Since caloric restriction is not sustainable long-term for most humans, we investigated an alternative dietary approach, intermittent fasting, which is proposed to act on similar biological pathways. We hypothesized that a modified intermittent fasting diet, where participants maintain overall energy balance by alternating between days of fasting (25% of normal caloric intake) and feasting (175% of normal) would increase expression of genes associated with aging and reduce oxidative stress and that these effects would be suppressed by antioxidant supplementation. To assess the tolerability of the diet and to explore effects on biological mechanisms related to aging and metabolism, we recruited a cohort of 24 healthy individuals in a double crossover, double-blinded randomized clinical trial. Study participants underwent two three-week treatment periods: intermittent fasting and intermittent fasting with antioxidant (Vitamins C and E) supplementation. We found strict adherence to study-provided diets and that participants found the diet tolerable, with no adverse clinical findings or weight change. We detected a marginal increase (2.7%) in SIRT3 expression due to the intermittent fasting diet, but no change in expression of other genes or oxidative stress markers analyzed. We also found that intermittent fasting decreased plasma insulin levels (1.01 uU/mL). Although our study suggests that the intermittent fasting dieting paradigm is acceptable in healthy individuals, additional research is needed to further assess the potential benefits and risks.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 799. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 30 March 2025.
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Outputs of similar age from Rejuvenation Research
#1
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Altmetric has tracked 34,342,227 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 99th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 799 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 13.8. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its peers.
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