A biologist has shared a simple method to potentially decrease your biological age. Many individuals invest significant amounts of money in an attempt to combat aging, with Bryan Johnson being a prime example. Johnson reportedly spends around $2 million annually on his anti-aging regimen.
Johnson has pursued some unconventional methods, including receiving a plasma infusion from his teenage son to maintain a youthful appearance. At 47, he has also undergone medical treatments, such as getting his joints injected with 300 million stem cells, to achieve his rejuvenation goals.
If you’re not keen on these costly and invasive procedures, there’s a reportedly more accessible and affordable approach to reversing the aging process. According to a study noted by Medical News Today, this method could potentially turn back your biological clock by up to 2.5 years.
The key lies in making a lifestyle adjustment that involves periodic fasting. While extended periods without food are not recommended, short-term fasting might benefit your body significantly.
Dr. Valter Longo suggests that a three-day fast triggers cells to ‘eat themselves,’ a process that helps eliminate accumulated waste in the cells. “It’s an opportunity to clean up,” he elaborated on Professor Tim Spector’s ZOE Science & Nutrition podcast.
For anti-aging benefits, Dr. Longo recommends a five-day ‘fasting-like’ diet. Known as the fasting-mimicking diet (FMD), as Healthline describes, it involves cycles of a five-day diet low in calories, protein, and carbohydrates but rich in unsaturated fats like those found in olive oil, nuts, and seeds.
Dr. Longo stated in a news release last year, “This is the first study to show that a food-based intervention that does not require chronic dietary or other lifestyle changes can make people biologically younger, based on both changes in risk factors for aging and disease and on a validated method developed by the [Morgan E. Levine] group to assess biological age.”
The study, published in 2024, found that participants practicing FMD for five days each month exhibited signs of a younger immune system and reduced biological age after three months.