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.
The Takeaway. 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.
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.
We hear lots about the benefits of fasting diets, including that they can help you live longer, but new research shows they can help rejuvenate your skin as well.
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].
When you fast, it improves the health of the gut so that the systemic inflammation of the skin reduces. The lowered inflammatory state in the gut makes the skin look younger, healthier, and clearer. In addition, fasting increases the body's metabolic activity, which also leads to a healthy body and skin.
Intermittent Fasting Increases Collagen Production
Human growth hormone helps to build up and even repair collagen. Fasting is one of the most effective ways to raise growth hormone. It can increase it by up to 2000% in men and 1300% in women.
“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.”
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.
Autophagy speeds the process of cell renewal and increases the rate collagen is produced.
Age is no bar for skincare
According to Cho, preventative skincare in Korea begins when you start applying sunscreen or wearing hats and clothing that protect you from sun exposure at six months old. “Not only does this prevent sunburns, but it also hinders sun damage that can contribute to ageing later in life.
Bottom line. 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.
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. Not enough research has been collected on the ideal timing to trigger human autophagy.
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 ).
What turns off autophagy? Eating. Glucose, insulin (or decreased glucagon) and proteins all turn off this self-cleaning process. And it doesn't take much.
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.
In hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), autophagy has been shown to delay aging via activation of downstream sirtuin-3 (SIRT3), a key mitochondrial protein capable of rejuvenating blood and protecting against oxidative stress in mice and human HSC-enriched cells54.
Collagen levels decrease with age and, unfortunately, there's no way to prevent this. The good news is that there are several cosmetic treatments that can rebuild or restore collagen.
New collagen production can take up to 4 to 12 weeks to complete. It's also good to know that while restoring collagen can help to smooth wrinkles and preserve your firm look, results aren't permanent, making staying consistent with your collagen-boosting ritual a key step in continuing to see results.
“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.
You don't need to burn muscle instead of fat, nor will your body automatically burn muscle while fasting. It's possible to lose a bit of muscle mass when you fast, as you also lose water weight and visceral fat. However, it's more likely you'll maintain muscle mass rather than lose or gain it.
The most immediate organ affected by a fast is the pancreas. During times of low plasma glucose, the pancreas will release more glucagon from the alpha cells found in the islets of Langerhans. Glucagon will mainly affect the liver as it stores most of the glycogen in the body.
Fasting may cause temporary hair loss in women due to calorie and nutrition changes but promotes hair growth in the long term. Hair loss can cause concern or even severe distress for some women. Daily hair shedding is normal, but you may notice increased hair loss when beginning intermittent fasting.