Occasional fasting could help you live longer

By Meera Senthilingam, for CNN

Updated 1149 GMT (1949 HKT) March 30, 2016

A calorie-controlled diet improves not only your health but also your lifespan, research suggests.
Photos: Could fasting help you stay young?
A calorie-controlled diet improves not only your health but also your lifespan, research suggests.
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Scientists are digging deeper into the biology behind this to determine the accurate proportions of food items needed to increase your lifespan.
Photos: Could fasting help you stay young?
Scientists are digging deeper into the biology behind this to determine the accurate proportions of food items needed to increase your lifespan.
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Teams at the University of Southern California have found a new mechanism to increase longevity through a diet mimicking the effects of fasting.
Photos: Could fasting help you stay young?
Teams at the University of Southern California have found a new mechanism to increase longevity through a diet mimicking the effects of fasting.
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When the body thinks it is in a state of fasting, it can go into standby mode, causing the removal of cells and the regeneration of new ones, via stem cells, keeping the body young.
Photos: Could fasting help you stay young?
When the body thinks it is in a state of fasting, it can go into standby mode, causing the removal of cells and the regeneration of new ones, via stem cells, keeping the body young.
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Caloric control and fasting are common means of weight loss exemplified by the 5:2 diet, in which caloric intake is reduced significantly two days per week.
Photos: Could fasting help you stay young?
Caloric control and fasting are common means of weight loss exemplified by the 5:2 diet, in which caloric intake is reduced significantly two days per week.
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The fasting-mimicking diet is designed to include specific percentages of protein, fat and carbohydrates for maximum effect. This controls certain pathways inside the body.
Photos: Could fasting help you stay young?
The fasting-mimicking diet is designed to include specific percentages of protein, fat and carbohydrates for maximum effect. This controls certain pathways inside the body.
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When these pathways are controlled and switched on, certain reactions inside the body cause immune cells to die, organs to shrink and the switching on of the body's ability to renew itself.
Photos: Could fasting help you stay young?
When these pathways are controlled and switched on, certain reactions inside the body cause immune cells to die, organs to shrink and the switching on of the body's ability to renew itself.
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The fasting-mimicking diet is thought to also reduce risk factors for diseases such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
Photos: Could fasting help you stay young?
The fasting-mimicking diet is thought to also reduce risk factors for diseases such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
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Story highlights

  • The fasting-mimicking diet is thought to reduce disease risk and improve lifespan
  • The diet involves reducing calories significantly for five consecutive days every three months
  • Fasting can put the body into standby and activate pathways that lead to regeneration of cells
Vital Signs is a monthly program bringing viewers health stories from around the world.

(CNN)How much -- or how little -- you eat could influence how long you live.

The idea of caloric control improving your health, and therefore your lifespan, is nothing new, but researchers are now hoping to accurately determine the type of diet that could make you live longer.
    One team at the University of Southern California (USC) are reducing the calorie count as low as it can go, using specific foods to trick the human body into thinking it's fasting -- a process called fasting mimicry.