Table of contents:
- What is autophagy?
- Fasting can trigger autophagy
- Benefits of autophagy while fasting
- 1. Prevent premature aging and make a long life
- 2. Maintain bodily functions in a low energy condition
- 3. Prevent the growth of cancer cells
- 4. Maintain a healthy liver
- 5. Benefits for cells
Your body goes through a lot of changes when fasting. The muscles and liver release their energy reserves, the metabolic rate slows down, and the body's cells undergo a process called autophagy. Autophagy is a self-cleaning mechanism that occurs when the body is trained to fast for a certain period of time.
Fasting-induced autophagy has a number of health benefits. This process can also speed up according to the type of food you eat at dawn and breaking your fast.
Consider the following information to learn more about autophagy and its effects on your body.
What is autophagy?
There are trillions of cells that make up the human body. Over time, the residual molecules formed from cellular metabolism can accumulate in the cells and cause damage. Cells that have been damaged are no longer needed and need to be discarded.
Autophagy is the body's way of cleaning itself from old and damaged cells so that they can form new, healthier cells. 'Auto' means' self 'and'phagy'(Fagi) means to eat. Literally, autophagy means to eat oneself.
Cells that are autophagy do “eat” themselves. This may sound like something out of the ordinary, but this process is actually very rewarding. The reason is, autophagy is a natural process that can rejuvenate your body.
During the autophagy process, the body's cells get rid of waste molecules and damaged cell parts. Sometimes, autophagy also destroys these molecules and cell parts, then recycles them into new cell parts.
Autophagy is like a button reset on the body. This process both cleanses and recycles your body's cells. In addition, autophagy also increases the ability of cells to adapt to fight toxins and other damage triggers that accumulate in them.
Fasting can trigger autophagy
Autophagy is a mechanism that occurs naturally in the body of living things. However, a number of factors are believed to trigger or speed up the process. One of these factors is fasting.
When fasting, your body does not get food intake for dozens of hours. This continues for days so that your body gradually gets used to the decreased calorie and nutrient intake.
Decreasing calorie intake when fasting makes body cells experience stress. In fact, body cells need calories to function normally. The body's cells also adapt by reducing the calories they use to carry out these functions.
In conditions of lack of energy, the body's cells must work more efficiently. To do this, the body's cells remove waste molecules and damaged cell parts, or recycle these substances into cell parts that are still functioning properly.
In this way, the body's cells can work normally even though they don't get enough energy intake. Scientists do not yet fully understand why the body's cells react this way, but it is clear that this process helps the body survive.
Benefits of autophagy while fasting
Several studies have discussed the health benefits of autophagy. Autophagy is a process in cells that is so complex that its benefits may not be felt immediately.
However, here are a number of benefits that have been summarized from various studies:
1. Prevent premature aging and make a long life
The main benefit of autophagy is to rejuvenate body cells and prevent premature aging. In addition, the new cells formed by the autophagy process also protect your body and, technically, make you live longer.
2. Maintain bodily functions in a low energy condition
Autophagy maintains normal body functions even if you lack energy sources when fasting. This process can't last forever, but at least your body will get more time to get energy back up.
3. Prevent the growth of cancer cells
Cancer cell formation begins with cells that are damaged or mutated. The body recognizes these wrong cells and removes them through the autophagy process. This is why autophagy may help reduce cancer risk.
4. Maintain a healthy liver
Autophagy is often associated with liver health. A study in a journal Food and Chemical Toxicology states that this process has the potential to protect liver cells from damage caused by consumption of drugs and alcohol.
Not only that, autophagy is also believed to inhibit the severity of several liver diseases, including:
- Wilson's disease
- Acute liver failure
- Liver disease associated with long-term alcohol consumption
- Non-alcoholic fatty liver
5. Benefits for cells
Apart from the benefits already mentioned, autophagy when fasting also provides other benefits for the body's cells. The following various benefits may only have an effect on the cellular level, but still cannot be underestimated.
The following include:
- Recycle waste protein that is not used.
- Removes toxic substances that increase the risk of neurological diseases such as Parkinson's disease or Alzheimer's.
- Supply energy and remaining substances that can be broken down into new cells.
- Stimulates cell regeneration and renewal.
Autophagy is one of the many important mechanisms that occur when a person is fasting. This mechanism functions to remove waste molecules and cell parts that are no longer needed so that the body can function effectively.
Although beneficial, excessive autophagy is also bad for heart cells if it occurs on a large scale. So, make sure you are fasting fairly without drastically reducing your calorie intake.
