Seattle Timesに興味深い記事があったので載せます。飽食の時代だからこそ生まれるリサーチですけど、実際証明できたっていうのがポイントっていうことですね。まぁネズミは体小さいですから。バックアップも速いでしょうけど人間は微妙だと思いますよ。私は、絶食は長い期間であれ短い期間であれ、結局あんまり意味がないと思うんですよ。たとえば２日間絶食したら、何日間かその効果らしきものがあらわれ、そして２日間で元に戻ると思うんです。２か月絶食しても、同じように効果や求めていない副作用がしばらくあらわれ、２か月間で元に戻るという感じ。
人間に限らず、生物の体ってバランスをとろう、とろうとして機能しているものなので、一時の変化は一時的に効果がでるだけだと思うんです。動物と違って、おなかがすいたら食べて、おなかがすかないときは食べないっていうしごくシンプルな行動をとれない人間ってホント、いろいろと弱いですよね。
以下、引用しておきます。
シアトルタイムズからの引用
Fasting proved good for mice; could humans benefit as well?
By The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Periodic fasting can be just as good for the health as sharply cutting back on calories, even if the fasting doesn’t mean eating less overall, a new study indicates.
Researchers are planning to see if what works in mice is also good for people.
Several recent studies have reported a variety of benefits from a sharply restricted diet, including longer life span, increased insulin sensitivity and better stress resistance.
In the new report, mice that were fed only every other day — but could gorge themselves on the days they did eat — saw similar health benefits to ones that had their diet reduced by 40 percent, a team of researchers reports in today’s online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The cause of health improvements from cutting back on diet isn’t fully understood, though many researchers had assumed that a long-term reduction in calories was involved.
But the new study by Mark Mattson and colleagues at the National Institute on Aging found equal benefits for mice that ate only every other day, but didn’t cut total calories because they ate twice as much on days they weren’t fasting.
Mattson said a study is being planned to compare the health of a group of people fed the normal three meals a day with a similar group, eating the same diet and amount of food, but consuming it within four hours and then fasting for 20 hours before eating again.
“Overeating is a big problem now in this country. It’s particularly troublesome that a lot of children are overweight. It’s still unclear the best way to somehow get people to eat less. … One possibility is skipping a meal a day,” Mattson said. “Our study suggests that skipping meals is not bad for you.”
Dr. Carol Braunschweig of the University of Illinois at Chicago, who was not part of the study team, said she was intrigued by the suggestion that a drastic change in eating patterns might have benefits.
“With the current epidemic of obesity and physical inactivity facing the U.S. today, identification of a beneficial eating pattern that could address some of the untoward effects of excess weight would be a very significant finding,” she said.
Mattson said an earlier study found that mice that fasted every other day had extended life spans, and the new experiment found the mice also did better in factors involved in diabetes and nerve damage in the brain similar to Alzheimer’s disease.
“We think what happens is going without food imposes a mild stress on cells and cells respond by increasing their ability to cope with more severe stress,” Mattson said. “It’s sort of analogous to physical effects of exercise on muscle cells.”
He said the researchers think this stress occurs throughout the body, and that may be the reason that fasting seems to increase life span and that the animals become more resistant to the diseases of aging.
The dieting mice consumed 40 percent less food than mice eating normally and lost nearly half their body weight (49 percent) in the experiment, while the fasting mice weighed only a little less than mice eating normally.
In recent years, some nutritionists have recommended eating smaller amounts more often, but this study did not deal with that type of eating pattern.
By The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Periodic fasting can be just as good for the health as sharply cutting back on calories, even if the fasting doesn’t mean eating less overall, a new study indicates.
Researchers are planning to see if what works in mice is also good for people.
Several recent studies have reported a variety of benefits from a sharply restricted diet, including longer life span, increased insulin sensitivity and better stress resistance.
In the new report, mice that were fed only every other day — but could gorge themselves on the days they did eat — saw similar health benefits to ones that had their diet reduced by 40 percent, a team of researchers reports in today’s online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The cause of health improvements from cutting back on diet isn’t fully understood, though many researchers had assumed that a long-term reduction in calories was involved.
But the new study by Mark Mattson and colleagues at the National Institute on Aging found equal benefits for mice that ate only every other day, but didn’t cut total calories because they ate twice as much on days they weren’t fasting.
Mattson said a study is being planned to compare the health of a group of people fed the normal three meals a day with a similar group, eating the same diet and amount of food, but consuming it within four hours and then fasting for 20 hours before eating again.
“Overeating is a big problem now in this country. It’s particularly troublesome that a lot of children are overweight. It’s still unclear the best way to somehow get people to eat less. … One possibility is skipping a meal a day,” Mattson said. “Our study suggests that skipping meals is not bad for you.”
Dr. Carol Braunschweig of the University of Illinois at Chicago, who was not part of the study team, said she was intrigued by the suggestion that a drastic change in eating patterns might have benefits.
“With the current epidemic of obesity and physical inactivity facing the U.S. today, identification of a beneficial eating pattern that could address some of the untoward effects of excess weight would be a very significant finding,” she said.
Mattson said an earlier study found that mice that fasted every other day had extended life spans, and the new experiment found the mice also did better in factors involved in diabetes and nerve damage in the brain similar to Alzheimer’s disease.
“We think what happens is going without food imposes a mild stress on cells and cells respond by increasing their ability to cope with more severe stress,” Mattson said. “It’s sort of analogous to physical effects of exercise on muscle cells.”
He said the researchers think this stress occurs throughout the body, and that may be the reason that fasting seems to increase life span and that the animals become more resistant to the diseases of aging.
The dieting mice consumed 40 percent less food than mice eating normally and lost nearly half their body weight (49 percent) in the experiment, while the fasting mice weighed only a little less than mice eating normally.
In recent years, some nutritionists have recommended eating smaller amounts more often, but this study did not deal with that type of eating pattern.