How Fasting and Spermidine Cleanse Our Cells

Through the process of autophagy (which means “eating oneself” in Latin), the human body is able to get rid of “cellular waste” – such as faulty proteins and other damaged cell components that have accumulated in cells. This cell-cleansing effect can be artificially stimulated by fasting. According to the researchers in Graz, the natural polyamine spermidine plays an important role: its concentration increases significantly during fasting and triggers the cleansing process.

What is spermidine?

Spermidine is a natural substance found in wheat germ, nuts, mushrooms and also in male semen. The natural polyamine, whose anti-aging effect was demonstrated in 2009 by a research team led by Frank Madeux from the University of Graz, triggers a cellular cleansing process: In fruit flies, the substance has already been shown to be effective against neurodegenerative changes in the brain, where it stimulates autophagy, as a team led by Madeux published in Nature Neuroscience in 2014.

The content of spermidine, which is present in high concentrations in seminal fluid and other body cells and is also produced by some intestinal bacteria, decreases throughout life. A current international study in the research group led by Madeu and Sebastian Hofer from the Institute of Molecular Biosciences at the University of Graz shows that spermidine concentrations increase significantly in fasting animals, mice, flies and yeast cells. The results are published in the August issue of Nature Cell Biology.

What does spermidine do to our bodies?

The study authors observed increased fitness as well as extended health and lifespan with fasting in all the organisms examined. At least as long as it was accompanied by increased spermidine concentrations. The researchers also looked at the flip side. “After we blocked the spermidine increase in several model organisms through chemical and genetic interventions, they were no longer able to induce autophagy and the vitality-boosting effect of fasting did not occur,” explains Madeo.

There were also effects on chronic inflammation. “In model organisms with arthritis, inflammation was improved by regular fasting,” explained Hofer, now a researcher at the Max Delbrück Center in Berlin. The same applies to the cardioprotective effects of fasting. Hofer saw further potential: “Different fasting regimens could be made even more effective by additional doses of spermidine.”

(Source: ABA)