Health
Our body is able to detoxify itself and even become younger after fasting. For this incredible discovery, 71-year-old Japanese scientist Yoshinori Ohsumi won the Nobel Prize of $950,000 in 2016.
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We will tell you about the secret of his technique.
Yoshinori's discovery is based on the autophagy mechanism. This process is a system for the disposal and recycling of unnecessary cellular parts.
Autophagy, according to the scientist, may well be used to fight dementia and cancer.
The benefits of fasting
The phenomenon itself was discovered back in the 1960s, but then scientists were unable to fully understand its importance.
Thanks to autophagy, the cell is able to cope with the infection, remove toxins and rejuvenate. Osumi was able to prove that the entire autophagy mechanism works most effectively when the body is under stress, such as starvation.
Autophagy is the body's internal renewal program, during which unnecessary parts of cells leave by themselves, while good elements remain to generate energy and create new ones, healthy cells. This process is crucial for the prevention of malignant tumors, for protecting against infections, for maintaining a healthy metabolism, and for protecting against diseases such as diabetes.
Interesting facts about autophagy
Dysfunctional autophagy is directly related to the development of Parkinson's disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer, and many other age-related problems. Active research is currently underway to develop drugs that will help direct the possibilities of autophagy to treat various diseases.
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The term “autophagy” itself comes from two Greek words that mean “self-sufficiency”. Autophagy is the process by which cellular debris is captured and sealed in sac-like membranes called autophagosomes. The sealed contents are transported to the lysosome, a structure considered a garbage cell.
One-day fasting
After studying the processes in yeast cells, a Japanese scientist identified the main genes involved in autophagy and demonstrated how the proteins that encode these genes combine to create autophagy membrane. He later showed that a similar process takes place in human cells, and that our cells would not be able to survive without it.
Experts say this discovery has provided a deep understanding of the biology behind infectious diseases, cancer, Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases. Earlier, the Nobel Prize in Biology was shared by three scientists for discoveries that helped doctors effectively fight malaria and infections caused by parasitic roundworms.
The Nobel Committee has confirmed that fasting for one day actually produces excellent results. Autophagy protects the body from premature aging, and even rejuvenates it by creating new cells.
Interesting facts about starvation
1. One eighth of the total population is hungry
Every eighth inhabitant of our planet falls asleep hungry every day. This is due to the fact that more than 1 billion people on Earth face a lack of food. Such data is provided by the US Agency for International Development.
2. The most hungry country is South Sudan
About 70 percent of the citizens of this country know what food shortage is. Kenya is in second place in this sad ranking (51 per cent), and Nigeria is third (47 per cent).
3. To feed all hungry people, we must stop wasting food
Statistical scientists have come to the conclusion that in order to feed all hungry people in Africa, you can simply collect all the food that is thrown away every day residents of different countries.
4. A person will live without food for 40 days
Scientific studies have shown that an adult who does not experience strong physical activity will survive without eating for about 40 days. Moreover, he will not have serious health problems.
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5. In ancient India, debtors were targeted through a hunger strike
In Indian shastras (religious explanatory texts), it is recommended to put pressure on the debtor by means of short-term fasting (Abkhojan), and if it does not help, then use a hunger strike to die ( praia).
Indian “collectors” thus put pressure on pity. They could not only deprive themselves of food, but also their wife, children, and servants. The suffering of the creditor and his family did not go unnoticed by the debtor, because the hunger strike took place right outside his home.
If, as a result, the creditor died, then the debtor was fully morally and legally responsible for killing a person.
6. A three-day fast will help renew the immune system
This interesting conclusion was made by a group of scientists from the University of California. They conducted a study, the results of which showed that when a short fast for three days, the human immune system is renewed.
Our defense system is restored as a result of increased stem cell division that occurs during fasting, when the body is under stress. Also, during short-term fasting, there is a decrease in the concentration of a certain enzyme that is responsible for aging and a certain hormone associated with the development of cancer tumors.
7. Fasting is the most dangerous of all weight loss methods
Maya Plisetskaya's famous “do not eat” diet is actually far from the best way to get rid of hated kilograms. In fact, fasting is extremely dangerous for our body. When there is no food, the body quickly and sharply lowers blood glucose, which means that the amount of insulin, which is responsible for burning fat deposits in cells, also decreases.
As a result, during the period of fasting, acetone bodies accumulate, which increase the acidity in the blood. These bodies are very active in moving around the body, poisoning it.
8. Fasting has no effect on fat stores
First of all, glycogens disappear. The body feeds on them primarily because they are rapidly available energy reserves. Glycogens go away with a large amount of liquid, so the weight goes away, but the fat does not go away.
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When starvation comes to an end, our body, after everything it has gone through, not only gains lost kilograms, but also stores heavily for future hungry times. Knowing this feature of ours, some professional athletes specifically starve several times in order to gain the right weight. For example, in six months of such a life, you can easily eat 5-15 additional kilograms.
9. Thoughts about food are just as pleasant as thoughts about intimacy
In 2004, a study was conducted that involved brain tomography. As a result, experts have found that just thinking about your favorite salad or donut helps release the pleasure hormone dopamine. This same hormone is released when we have sex or when we use drugs.
10. 30 percent of pregnant women dream of eating something inedible
Many people know that women in a position often want something like this, for example, pickles with jam or oranges with red caviar. However, scientists have shown that a pregnant woman goes much beyond her unusual desires, because about a third of them dream of eating something completely inedible.
The most common desires of women carrying offspring are soap and whitewash. This feature is an eating disorder known as “allotriophagy” (the word comes from the Latin “magpie”). Magpie, which is a fairly familiar bird for our region, can swallow anything.
Read also: 10 habits that kill our kidneys
11. You can't help but think about chocolate because it's bad
If you're doing everything possible and impossible in pursuit of a wasp waist, stop and think about your favorite chocolate bar. This does not mean that you are weak in character. The thing is that a 2007 study showed that girls who tried to forget about chocolate ended up eating at least 50 percent more than women who spoke openly about their sweet tooth. Eating chocolate is not as harmful as forbidding yourself to think about it.
12. In some countries, it is better not to be seen by a hungry person
It turns out that cannibalism still exists in the 21st century, and one person is not at all averse to eating another. You can encounter an ogre in India (north, Aghori sect), Southeast Papua New Guinea (Korowai tribe), Congo, Cambodia, Brazil, Fiji, West Africa (Sierra Leone, Liberia environs, Kot) Ivory Coast).
