Diet fads come and go but occasionally one comes along that turns heads.
The five-day fasting mimicking diet (FMD) is one of these anomalies.
The dietary plan was recently found to reverse a person's biological age by almost three years.
Naturally, this has led to an explosion of interest in FMD. Amid the hype, GB News takes a closer look at the diet.
What is the five-day FMD?
The five-day fasting mimicking diet (FMD) is a program that aims to mimic the effects of fasting while still allowing some food intake. It was developed by the laboratory of USC Leonard Davis School Professor Valter Longo.
As the name suggests, it involves consuming a low-calorie, low-protein, and low-carbohydrate diet for typically five consecutive days.
Adherents can be expected to eat plant-based soups, energy bars, energy drinks, chip snacks, and tea portioned out over the five days as well as a supplement providing high levels of minerals, vitamins, and essential fatty acids.
The FMD is comprised of plant-based soups, energy bars, energy drinks, chip snacks, and tea portioned out for five daysGetty Images The short duration makes it more manageable for individuals than longer fasting periods.
This is thought to improve adherence and reduce dietary fatigue, making it easier to integrate into existing lifestyles.
It has been developed to be used in periodic cycles from every two weeks to every several months.
Unlike traditional fasting, FMD provides a controlled intake of essential nutrients, allowing individuals to experience some of the benefits of fasting while still obtaining vital nutrients.
This feature reduces the concerns associated with long-term fasting, such as nutrient deficiencies.
What are the health benefits?
In a first-of-its-kind study, published in the journal Nature Communications, FMD was found to lower a person’s biological age by an average of 2½ years.
Cycles of FMD reduced signs of immune system ageing, as well as insulin resistance and liver fat in humans, and decreased the risks of age-related illnesses, resulting in a lower biological age.
It comes after a previous study looked at effects of FMD on markers and risk factors associated with ageing and age-related diseases.
Subjects who consumed the FMD for five consecutive days per month for three months had decreased body weight and total body fat, reduced blood pressure, and lowered IGF-1 serum levels - a hormone that is essential for tissue and bone growth.
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The FMD may feed cancer cells, preliminary research suggests
Getty ImagesHuman studies also suggest FMD may improve cognitive function in patients with mild cognitive impairment - a precursor to Alzheimer's. But more research needs to be done in this area.
Research has found FMD reduced the signs of dementia in mice.
Animal studies suggest that fasting can reduce the levels of amyloid beta in the brain, a key component of amyloid plaques (folded proteins thought to play a central role in Alzheimer's).
A new weapon in the fight against cancer?
Over the last few years, researchers have been examining the use of the fasting-mimicking diet in cancer treatment to help potentially slow down the growth of tumours, and make them more susceptible to chemotherapy in certain types of cancer, such as colorectal cancer.
In the first human clinical trial, an FMD-like diet was found to reduce sugar and other substances in the blood that may feed cancer cells and boost the anti-tumour response.