The secret to long life expectancy is to follow a healthy lifestyle – regularly exercising, limiting alcohol intake, not smoking and eating a healthy balanced diet. When it comes to eating a healthy diet, the NHS recommends eating at least five portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables every day, basing meals on higher fibre starchy foods like potatoes, bread, rice or pasta, having some dairy or dairy alternatives, some protein, choosing unsaturated oils and spreads, and eating them in small amounts, and drinking plenty of fluids. A new study also suggests a different approach to meal times and how it could impact on your health.
In the study with the National Institute of Ageing (NIA) and the National Institutes of Health, longer daily fasting times and how it could improve health and longevity was analysed. The study noted: “Increasing time between meals made male mice healthier overall and live longer compared to mice who at more frequently.” Scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Pennington Biomedical Research Centre, Baton Rouge, Louisiana , reports that health and longevity improved with increased fasting time, regardless of what the mice ate or how many calories they consumed. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/09/180906123305.htm
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NIA director, Dr Richard J. Hodes said: “This study showed that mice who ate one meal per day and thus had the longest fasting period, seemed to have a longer lifespan and better outcomes for common age-related liver disease and metabolic disorders.
“These intriguing results in an animal model show that the interplay of total caloric intake and the length of feeding and fasting periods deserves a closer look.”
The study suggests that those who fast at least once a month lived longer and healthier life.
Time-restricted eating patterns might help humans to also maintain a healthy weight and reduce some common age-related metallic disorders.
The study also suggested that eating patterns, rather than diet composition, influenced longevity regulation.