Okay, apologies in advance if this is a stupid question. So I’ve read that to achieve autophagy, you have to do a water-only fast for at least 48 hours. My question is, is autophagy a black-and-white thing where it’s either happening or not? Or is there such thing as “some” autophagy happening during a fast that includes things like broth or coffee?
Like many things, autophagy knowledge in fasting is very limited, despite what some well known commentators might say.
One study showed peak autophagy at 72 hours BUT a marker associated with low autophagy also peaked then. Another study looking at a different marker found peak autophagy occurring between 48 and 96 hours, depending on participant- quite a range.
Of course, peak autophagy says nothing about how long you need to do it for significant health results nor whether there are detriments.
However, Longo’s research led him to come up with a 5 day fasting period to give various health benefits from fasting. There is also the FMD over the same period.
Some studies suggest negative effects on parts of the immune system, but I couldn’t get a reply from the author of one to see whether that was followed up long term to see if it normalised.
Science is often thought to be more definite than it is when you have media personalities (trained or not) making a profit from it.
I think overall it’s a good thing, but I’m sure there’s still so much we don’t know. Based on this I fast four times a year now for 5 days at a time.
Autophagy isn’t necessarily black and white. Since everyone’s body is different some people can kickstart autophagy using the 12/12 intermittent fasting but many people find the 16/8 intermittent fasting yields the most benefits. Like many people have already stated it is hard to find human studies but a big part of that is because human bodies vary so much.