More specifically, fasting can help reduce wrinkles, one of the most dreaded side-effects of aging. This is because fasting activates DNA-repair genes in the body that help reduce inflammation in the body. Fasting also leads to the production of somatropin, which helps minimize wrinkles and fine lines.
Intermittent fasting is one of the easiest ways of building muscle, decreasing body fat and increasing your energy. And by triggering the cellular cleansing process of autophagy, intermittent fasting also improves your life span – and makes your skin look smoother and younger.
The fountain of youth may be a myth, but you can turn to the next best option: the anti-aging impact of intermittent fasting. Intermittent fasting triggers multiple changes in your body that slow down aging by keeping cells and DNA healthy.
Fasting benefits skin appearance by keeping it firm yet flexible, reducing loose skin while losing weight. Loose skin is usually the result of decreased skin elasticity due to a decline in collagen and elastin production.
Consider board-certified dermatologist Keira Barr, M.D., another expert on board: "Fasting not only reboots the gut microbiome, which helps [support a balanced inflammatory response] and improve skin health, but it also stimulates autophagy, our cells' self-cleansing process that breaks down and recycles damaged ...
Collagen production was found to be specifically decreased by acute fasting and the mechanism of this effect was studied.
Some studies found a strong relationship between a fasting type diet and acne in human adults and young subjects. In fact, during the period of caloric restriction, sebum level was found to be reduced by 40%, which influenced the degree of acne severity [64,65].
“Think of autophagy as a Roomba inside your cells, cleaning and clearing damaged parts,” says Whittel. “When autophagy functions optimally, it works to clear away the cellular junk that can lead to fat and wrinkles.”
Similar to how our bodies can eat away at unnecessary skin cells from loose skin through the process of autophagy, the appearance of aging is also slowed (and many say can even be reversed to an extent) when we activate this mechanism of clearing out old cellular parts – therefore revealing more youthful, vibrant skin.
A new scientific study has backed up some health claims about eating less. The clinical trial reveals that cutting back on food for just 5 days a month could help prevent or treat age-related illnesses like diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Eating fewer calories may slow down aging and increase longevity. Eating less may lengthen your life. Researchers have increased life-spans in yeast and mice by having them consume fewer calories per day, and ongoing studies suggest that a strict low-calorie diet may slow aging in primates, too.
Intermittent fasting can help you lose weight without dealing with an excess amount of skin because it targets your body fat rather than your lean mass. On top of this, autophagy can help prevent the reduction of your skin's elasticity. The older you get the less elastic your skin is, which can lead to loose skin.
A key sign of autophagy is reduced appetite. It's likely due to changed levels of hormones like glucagon and insulin. Specifically, levels of glucagon tend to increase during autophagy. Glucagon helps manage your blood sugar levels and has been shown to suppress appetite ( 6 , 10 , 11 ).
How long do you have to fast for autophagy to occur? Studies involving animals suggest that autophagy may begin between 24 to 48 hours of fasting.
Fortunately, autophagy has a direct effect on skin aging, and inducing the process can help tighten your skin and reduce the amount of loose skin on your body. It supports the processes that keep your skin more elastic and able to tighten up faster.
“UV exposure can lead to the breakdown of collagen, which can lead to the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, so you're never too young to start wearing sunscreen regularly,” says Garshick. The American Academy of Dermatology recommends choosing a broad-spectrum sunscreen with SPF 30 or higher.
The collagen tissues support the formation of bones, tendons, and cartilage that form depending on the level of mineralization. However, an individual can lose collagen components in the body due to exposure to ultraviolet light, tobacco, excessive intake of sugar, and aging.
As collagen contains protein and therefore calories, some will argue that it will break a fast. However, many people choose to limit their caloric intake to a very small amount rather than disallowing calories altogether. Therefore, collagen could arguably be enjoyed during a fast just as black coffee often is.
For some people, this can start to happen within as little 12-16 hours of fasting. But for maximum autophagy levels, the sweet spot appears to be somewhere between 24 and 48 hours of fasting (8, 9).
Autophagy can help remove cellular waste and keep genes stable within a cell. It may also help get rid of aging cells and decrease inflammation in the body.
It can, if you fast long enough to enter into autophagy, where the body begins to recycle damaged proteins and cells, including excess skin cells. This is why people who lose massive amounts of weight through fasting tend to have less loose skin than people who lose weight via other methods.